Table of contents for 2023-02-10 in Cape Times

FORMER president Jacob Zuma has opted to go to the Constitutional Court to have President Cyril Ramaphosa’s interdict, secured last month at the Gauteng South High Court, Johannesburg, overturned. Ramaphosa was granted an interdict not to be forced to appear before the court, after Zuma instituted private prosecution against him. Zuma wanted Ramaphosa prosecuted as an “accessory after the fact” in the private prosecution in which he accuses advocate Billy Downer, SC, and journalist Karyn Maughan of leaking his confidential medical information during his arms deal trial. Both Downer and Maughan have lodged applications to have that private prosecution declared an abuse of court processes. However, Ramaphosa had applied to the court to grant him an interdict that would prevent him from appearing in the court after receiving a summons…

IN A history-making by-election for the Patriotic Alliance (PA), the party won the ward 56 in Kensington by 1 321 votes on Wednesday. Following the victory, the PA lashed out at the DA for allegedly saying a vote for the PA was a “proxy vote for the ANC”. Cheslyn Steenberg is the chosen councillor for the ward, which was previously held by DA councillor, Helen Jacobs. The party said it was a big moment in the history of the PA. “We do not accept the DA’s excuse that they simply missed the deadline to contest this ward. They knew that the people of Kensington are done with them and they were just too afraid to enter the fight from the start. We have said it before and it is becoming…

RETURNING from a hugely successful run at the Chicago International Puppet Festival, the tale of William Shakespeare’s classic, Hamlet, will be brought to life through puppetry and physical performance at The Baxter later this month. First staged at the National Arts Festival in 2022, Janni Younge’s contemporary version of Hamlet will take place from February 22 to March 11 in the Pam Golding Theatre at 7.30pm nightly. Matinee school performances will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The cast consists of Mongi Mtombeni and Siyamthanda Sinani as Hamlet, Timothy Redpath as Claudius, Roshina Ratnam as Queen Gertrude, as well as Samkelo Zihlangu, Tshiamo Moretlwe and Beviol Swartz, who bring the full cast of characters to life through larger-than-life puppets. The production has just returned from a run at the Chicago…

Two convicted rapists, one from Delft and another from Plettenberg Bay, were each handed hefty prison sentences this week. Delft serial rapist, Mthetheleli Makhanda, 24, was handed five life terms after being sentenced in the Wynberg Regional Court on Tuesday. In Plettenberg Bay, Luthando Madoda, will serve an effective 20 years direct imprisonment as he was found guilty of raping his victim twice after dragging her into a field. Makhanda was convicted on six counts of rape, two counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, and two counts of housebreaking with intent to commit an offence. Police spokesperson, Ndakhe Gwala, said SAPS management thanked the investigation team for their work. “The Western Cape SAPS management hails the Provincial Family Violence Child Protection and Sexual Offences unit for the successful conviction of…

IN THIS era, it is a privilege to grow up in a household with both parents. A great many men have once again given the entire population of men a bad name. Men in this country are known for either being abusers or being runners, and I don’t mean runners as in athletes – I mean runners as people who run away from their responsibilities. They break world records! The number of single-parent households or child-headed homes has been rearing its ugly head in our societies for years, because men decide to pack and leave once they impregnate a woman. One might say that they do this because they are not ready to be fathers or they are not financially stable to become fathers, but that’s not the case; some…

As International Day of Women in Science is celebrated tomorrow, C2-rated researcher at the National Research Foundation, Professor Ntebogeng Mokgalaka-Fleischmann, is working to open up “the world of science where everything is possible” to other girls. The UN’s 8th commemoration of the day will focus on the role of women and girls and science in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a focus on SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure), SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and SDG17 (means of implementation). A significant gender gap has persisted throughout the years at all levels of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) disciplines across the world, the UN notes, and even though women have made tremendous progress towards…

The Cloisters Katy Hays Loot.co.za (R215) Bantam ANN Stilwell arrives in New York City, hoping to spend her summer working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she is assigned to The Cloisters, a Gothic museum and garden renowned for its collection of medieval and Renaissance art. She is drawn into a small circle of charismatic but enigmatic researchers, each with their own secrets and desires, including one, curator Patrick Roland, who is convinced that the history of Tarot holds the key to unlocking contemporary fortune-telling. Relieved to have left her troubled past and eager for the approval of her new colleagues, Ann is only too happy to indulge some of Patrick’s more outlandish theories. But when Ann discovers a mysterious, once-thought lost deck of 15th-century Italian Tarot cards she…

Death of a Traitor MC Beaton Loot.co.za (R404) Constable A MISSING person report is not usually something Hamish Macbeth sees as cause for undue distress. Should a child or a vulnerable person vanish, it’s an urgent matter that needs to be treated seriously, but in Macbeth’s experience, most other people who go missing tend to turn up again before long. So when Kate Hibbert disappears after having last been seen struggling along the road with a heavy suitcase, he is convinced she has gone travelling and reluctantly goes through the motions of investigating. Interviewing those closest to her, Macbeth is perplexed by their apparent lack of concern but sees no reason to suspect foul play. When Hibbert does eventually resurface, however, a storm of lies, intrigue and scandal threatens Macbeth’s…

Like other businesses across Cuba, Nel Paradiso is grappling with a worker shortage amid unprecedented levels of people fleeing the island nation. In just over a year, the central Havana restaurant has seen 50 employees leave. “There wasn’t enough time to replace the personnel,” said hiring manager Annie Zuniga, 26. After being forced to close its doors due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Nel Paradiso had been open for only two months when Nicaragua, an ally of Havana, abolished visa requirements for Cubans. That move in November 2021 kicked off the island’s largest exodus since the Communist regime came to power over six decades ago. “Nicaragua’s opening was a blow … from 50 workers, in one week we were left with 30,” Zuniga said. Of the 60 employees recruited during the…

The deadliest cholera outbreak in Malawi’s history has killed at least 1 210 people, while vaccines remain scarce and several other African nations report outbreaks, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday. The southern African nation has been battling its worst cholera outbreak on record, with nearly 37 000 cases reported since March last year. Confirmed cases have already been reported across the border in Mozambique, while the WHO said it assessed the current risk of spread inside Malawi and to other neighbouring countries as “very high”. The WHO said in a statement that active transmission was now ongoing in 27 out of Malawi’s 29 districts, with the country seeing a 143% increase in the number of cases last month compared to December. “With a sharp increase of cases seen…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said yesterday he had heard from several EU leaders at a summit that they were ready to provide Kyiv with aircraft, hinting at what would be one of the biggest shifts yet in Western support for Ukraine. His remarks came amid signs during a European tour that countries were closer to lifting one of the main taboos in military aid for Kyiv since Russia’s invasion last year. Western countries that have provided Ukraine with arms have so far refused to send fighter jets or long-range weapons capable of striking deep inside Russia. But the mood appears to have begun to shift during Zelenskiy’s European tour. Zelenskiy called for tighter sanctions on Moscow and punishment for Russian leaders responsible for the attack on Ukraine nearly a year…

Jayapura: At least four people were killed yesterday when an earthquake struck the capital of Indonesia’s breakaway eastern region of Papua and crumpled a waterfront restaurant, officials said. The 5.1-magnitude quake hit south-west of Jayapura city at a depth of 22km, the US Geological Survey said. “A café collapsed and four people died there. It fell into the sea,” the Jayapura disaster mitigation agency said. Residents in Jayapura said people scrambled for safety, running from houses and shops when the quake struck. The country’s meteorological agency gave a higher magnitude of 5.2 and warned of potential aftershocks. | AFP…

THE GOVERNMENT’S intention to declare the energy crisis a national state of disaster is not likely to spook investors and it may not result in the immediate end of load shedding. This is the view of Momentum Investments economist Sanisha Packirisamy who weighed in on the raging debate about declaring a state of disaster at Eskom. This comes after the weekend’s Cabinet lekgotla, which met to evaluate the legal requirements that should be met by the government before taking such a decision in a bid to help end crippling power cuts. Speaking to Business Report yesterday, Packirisamy said a state of disaster would likely speed up the time lines for any regulatory and legislative issues. However, Packirisamy said by doing so, a number of stakeholders might not actually get the…

from page 2 “It is a classic symptom of intellectual paralysis in a tired administration. Ramaphosa is fiddling with the laces on shoes South Africa has yet to put on for a race that our trade competitors are already running. There are two separate but related reasons why Ramaphosa cannot catch up. He has no social partners to help, given the failure to conclude the social compact promised in the past speeches. He has no united support from his party, given the appetite to retain and increase coal power plants at the expense of accelerating clean energy,” said Nyembezi. About the social compact he promised last year, Ramaphosa said: “We were not able to conclude a social compact in the time frame we had envisaged because a number of…

THE Phala Phala scandal came back to haunt President Cyril Ramaphosa when he delivered his seventh State of the Nation Address (Sona) last night. This after the EFF objected to the joint sitting of Parliament to listen to his address, because he took the national legislature to court. Ramaphosa has taken a report of the Section 89 panel, which found that he has a case to answer, on judicial review in the Constitutional Court. It took 45 minutes for Ramaphosa to have an opportunity to address the nation following many points of order and heckling from his new-found nemesis, the EFF . Ramaphosa had just sipped from a glass of water at 7pm when EFF leader Julius Malema rose on a point of order. Malema said the MPs could not…

THE suspects accused of defrauding the City of millions of rands were dealt another blow when the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court drastically increased their bail amounts yesterday, according to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). NPA spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila, said Jonathan van Rooy, the owner of JVR Construction CC, who through his alleged corrupt dealings with City officials received R46.9 million, asked the court to release him on R3 000 bail, while co-accused Koos Muller, a senior clerk at the City, who is alleged to have facilitated dealings and received R20 000 cash and other unknown cash amounts, also pleaded poverty and asked the court to release him on R3 000 bail. A third accused, Bret Lucas, an administration officer at the City’s Finance Department in Bellville, who claims to run…

A former cash-in-transit security guard lost his R2 million lawsuit against G4S cash-in-transit service provider after he claimed the company labelled him a robber following a spate of robberies and attempted robberies. Bongani Maliza turned to the high court in the Eastern Cape, Mthatha division, to claim damages against G4S and its regional director, Kevin Govender. He said his good name and reputation were tainted during a conference call. Maliza worked for the company at the time, which in 2018 experienced a sudden spate of robberies and attempted robberies involving its cash-in-transit vehicle. According to Maliza, Govender defamed him during the conference call, by saying “you are a robber and every staff member is afraid of you.” Maliza had meanwhile left the company following a disciplinary hearing against him…

DOCTORS Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has suspended its medical activities in the Boucle du Mouhoun region, in north-western Burkina Faso following the killing of two of its employees. The incident on Wednesday comes days after an attack on an MSF employee who was wounded in Pemba near Mitambo in Mozambique, and died a few hours later, while receiving medical care on Saturday. Four days later an MSF vehicle, clearly identified as such, carrying a medical team of four on the road between Dédougou and Tougan in Burkina Faso was targeted by armed men who shot at the passengers. Two employees were killed, while two others managed to escape. The employees, aged 39 and 34 from Burkina Faso, had been employed by MSF as a driver…

Someone Else’s Shoes Jojo Moyes Loot.co.za (R249) A STORY of mix-ups, mess-ups and making the most of second chances. This is the new novel from Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You and The Giver of Stars. Meet Sam … She does not have much but is grateful for what she has: a job she is just about clinging on to and a family who depend on her. She knows she is one bad day away from losing it all – and just hopes today is not it. Meet Nisha …. She has everything she has always dreamed of – and more: a rich husband and an international lifestyle. However she has just been locked out of it all after her husband initiates divorce proceedings. Sam and Nisha should…

Study reveals health equity issue Improving surgical care for women in low- and middle-income countries is a global health priority. It’s also critical for sustainable development because of the critical role women play in macro-economic growth, community well-being, and as part of the health-care workforce. When the inequities and disparities in obstetric outcomes between world regions came to the attention of governments and multinational organisations, maternal health initiatives were started in regions with the highest maternal mortality rates, including sub-Saharan Africa. This has contributed to an almost 40% reduction in maternal deaths in sub-Saharan Africa in the last two decades. But the outcomes of other kinds of surgery for women in Africa have remained under-examined. Women need equitable surgical care throughout their lives – not just during childbirth. In our…

LOS ANGELES: Burt Bacharach has died at the age of 94. The legendary composer – who worked on hits such as Walk On By and I Say a Little Prayer – died of natural causes at his Los Angeles home, his publicist has confirmed. Bacharach composed hundreds of songs in the 1950s to 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. He worked on many movie scores. He was an eight-time Grammy winner and won two Oscars in 1970, for the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid score and for the song Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head. He then took home his third Oscar in 1982 for Arthur’s Theme. | Bang Showbiz…

The US and Brazil will seek to reset ties this week when President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva travels to Washington to meet Joe Biden, both keen to turn the page on the Jair Bolsonaro years. Veteran leftist Lula, who took office for a third term last month after defeating far-right incumbent Bolsonaro, will hold what his team called a highly symbolic meeting with his American counterpart today at the White House. “It’s an opportunity for the two leaders to meet face-to-face and give the relationship a new direction and new momentum,” said Brazilian foreign ministry official Michel Arslanian Neto. US-Brazilian ties turned chilly after Biden defeated Donald Trump, Bolsonaro’s top ally and political role model, in the 2020 presidential race. Lula’s return now paves the way for a rapprochement.…

London: The Church of England’s governing body yesterday endorsed plans to let priests offer blessings to same-sex couples, after hours of acrimonious debate highlighted deep Anglican divisions on the issue. The Church’s General Synod – comprising hundreds of elected members – backed the proposals by a wide margin. A total of 250 bishops, clergy and laity supported the reforms, while 181 opposed them and 10 abstained, at a vote held at the Synod gathering in London. The plans will not change rules banning Anglican priests from officiating at same-sex weddings. Synod members supported an amendment endorsing that stance, while also voting in favour of the proposal to allow blessings for civil marriages in a church. | AFP…

New Delhi: Thousands of people turned out in protest outside municipal government offices in the central Chinese city of Wuhan over major cuts to their medical benefits. Video clips on social media showed a large crowd of older people gathered in rainy weather outside the gates of the city government compound, with police linking arms to prevent them from approaching the gates. The protest came after warnings from the central government in Beijing that it won’t be bailing out cash-strapped local governments, whose coffers had been drained by three years of President Xi Jinping’s zero-Covid policy, which ended in December last year. | IANS…

SUNE Luus must be blessed with an abundance of patience. Despite being the Proteas captain across all three formats for over two years, and marshalling her team’s progress to a World Cup semi-final, she is still made to feel like she is simply keeping the seat warm. But today at Newlands that is all about to change. Luus will lead the Proteas in the opening game of the Women’s T20 World Cup against Sri Lanka. It is a seminal moment in South African sports history. And Luus fully understands its importance. “It's quite massive. I don't think we quite realise what we already achieved without playing the game. I think it’s going to be awesome just seeing everyone coming out,” Luus said. “I think apart from the cricketing things and…

THERE can be no beans about it – women’s sport worldwide, and in South Africa, is busting through the glass ceiling, shattering any preconceptions and cutting deep into the psyche of the public at large. It has been witnessed in cricket, where the women’s game is watched intently, with the Proteas women adored by many. It can be seen in the success of Wafcon champions Banyana Banyana; and the massive success of 2022’s Women’s European Championship. SA Rugby, meanwhile, are putting in a concerted effort to uplift the game here for women in the hopes of catching up with the Home Unions, who regularly sell out their games in Europe. Netball in South Africa wants in and the Netball World Cup that will be hosted in the country in 168…

from page 2 despite losing her aunt and several nephews to the quake. “After we buried them, we came here to work as volunteers,” she said, adding aid was arriving slowly due to blocked roads. In the Aegean resort area of Marmaris, the owner of the Cettia Beach Hotel has opened up his hotel for quake survivors. “My hotel is closed in winter and it was scheduled to be opened by April when the summer season starts. We were renovating the hotel but we will stop and open up the hotel next week,” said owner Bulent Bulbuloglu. Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said the government was doing all it could to provide temporary accommodation to survivors who wanted to be re-housed. He told reporters 15 729 people had been accommodated…

THE announcement made by Transnet that it has decided to approach private sector operators to lease its container corridor line between Durban and Joburg for 20 years, has been greeted with mixed reactions from the freight industry. Transnet spokesperson Ayanda Shezi said in a statement that the plan was aimed at growing Transnet Freight Rail’s (TFR) freight container business. “Transnet SOC Ltd (Transnet), as part of its partnerships strategy, has decided to engage the market to invest in and grow Transnet Freight Rail’s (TFR) freight containerised business, which is the backbone of the manufacturing sector in the country. “To this end, Transnet will issue a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to the market to identify parties interested in entering into an operating lease with TFR for the operation and maintenance of…

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa’s imminent Cabinet reshuffle will see the appointment of a Minister of Electricity in the Presidency to assume responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the electricity crisis, which has now been declared a state of national disaster. This means critical infrastructure such as hospitals and water treatment plants will be exempt from load shedding. The new minister will also oversee the work of the National Energy Crisis Committee and will focus full-time on and work with the Eskom board and management on ending load shedding and ensuring that the Energy Action Plan is implemented without delay. Delivering his State of the Nation Address (Sona), Ramaphosa said extraordinary circumstances called for extraordinary measures. “The process of restructuring (the) government will give us an opportunity to determine the positioning…

CHILDREN’s rights organisation, Molo Songololo, has called on the office of the Western Cape Commissioner for Children to release the annual report for 2021/22, which has been delayed by some eight months. The NPO has called on the commissioner to make the report public, so that progress and challenges in the report can be monitored, said Molo Songololo director, Patric Solomon. “The Western Cape Commissioner for Children is a very historic process and institution that has been established. “This is the first commissioner which has been appointed. “It is a very historic process that is unfolding and therefore the annual report is so crucial, not only for the legislature and the premier, but also for civil society, children, children’s organisations and their representatives to see what has been done to…

MFULENI parents are at their wit’s end with scholar transport issues, as Academia Primary School children have missed school due to the alleged intimidation of the bus driver by taxi drivers. Speaking on behalf of affected parents and pupils, Nontsikelelo Manqamane said they were frustrated as their children have been home for more than a week. “We met with the school principal this past weekend, where parents told him what the issues are as he said he was not informed of these challenges. “Last week Tuesday, the bus driver was allegedly intimidated when he was completing his route along Mfuleni and Brentwood Park. “Taxi drivers told him that he was not allowed to drive the children, and ordered him to offload the children and not complete his trip. “This altercation…

AS THE earthquakes in Türkiye and Northern Syria continue to produce victims who, at the time of writing, were nearing an estimated 15 000 fatalities, with hundreds of thousands injured, maimed, emotionally and mentally traumatised and millions left homeless, hungry and exposed to the bitter Anatolian winter, it is as if nature is exacting a double whammy on the gallant but stoic survivors. Never mind the economic cost due to the destruction of infrastructure and social development assets; housing and businesses; the pressure on health-care systems already under pressure due to the ongoing impacts of the Covid pandemic; and the spectre of further potential damage due to aftershocks. The reality is that the true scale of devastation and reconstruction cost will only unfold over the next few weeks or even…

City under one roof Iris Yamashita Berkeley Iris Yamashita is a debut suspense author who has hit upon possibly the best place in North America to set a suspense story: the real-life town of Whittier, Alaska, home to about 280 year-round residents. In her new thriller, City Under One Roof, Yamashita deliciously exploits the eerie mystique of Whittier, which is fictionalised here as Point Mettier. A teenager named Amy Lin, who is wandering beside the shallow waters of Hidden Cove with her fellow pot-smoking friends, discovers a boot with an amputated foot inside; later, a hand is found. Local police (all two of them) deduce that a murder has been committed. Granted, random body parts have occasionally surfaced before in and around Point Mettier, but the general wisdom is that…

Hold My Girl Charlene Carr Loot.co.za (R273) Welbeck This tense and emotional novel follows the fallout after two women’s eggs are switched during IVF. Katherine has everything under control. After years of struggling to conceive with her partner, Patrick, she finally gives birth to Rose, her IVF miracle child. But she’s afraid that Rose may not be her daughter, her pale skin not matching Katherine’s own. Tess never got her happy ending. Just like Katherine, she was also a hopeful IVF mother, but her daughter, Hanna, was stillborn. Now divorced, broke and stuck in a dead-end job, she’s beginning to lose all hope. But when Rose is 10 months old, both women get a call from the fertility clinic. There was a mistake: their eggs were switched. It will take…

International news was recently dominated by what has been termed the Chinese balloon saga. On Saturday, February 4, US president Joe Biden ordered the American air force to shoot down an unmanned Chinese airship intended for civilian use. The balloon had been flying in US airspace. The airship was shot down just off the coast of South Carolina. Chinese authorities have indicated the entry of the unmanned airship into US airspace was unintended and was for civilian purposes. The airship was conducting research of a mainly meteorological nature and, having been “affected by the westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course”. The Chinese foreign ministry emphasised that “China always acts in strict accordance with international law and respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity…

Tokyo: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos hailed new defence and other deals signed with Japan in Tokyo yesterday, as the nations seek to deepen ties, including on security in response to growing Chinese military pressure. The countries agreed on measures to speed up military deployments for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. They also signed several other deals, from infrastructure loans to co-operation on agriculture and technology. “Our strategic partnership is stronger than ever,” Marcos said following talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Marcos’s trip comes a week after the Philippines announced a deal giving US troops access to another four bases in the country. Japan, which invaded and occupied the Philippines during World War II, has recently inked similar deals with Britain and Australia. But for now, the leaders are…

Nuclear-armed North Korea showcased its missile production muscle during a parade on Wednesday night, state media reported yesterday, displaying more intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) than ever before and hinting at a new solid-fuel weapon. The country has forged ahead with its ballistic missile programme, test-launching dozens of advanced missiles last year despite UN Security Council resolutions and sanctions. State media showed 11 Hwasong-17s, North Korea’s largest ICBM, which are suspected to be able to strike nearly anywhere in the world with a nuclear warhead. Eleven missiles could be enough to overwhelm current US missile defences, said the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. North Korea held the parade in Pyongyang to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of its army. Leader Kim Jong-un attended with his daughter, who could…

New Delhi: Twitter CEO Elon Musk yesterday said the micro-blogging platform was facing “multiple internal and external issues simultaneously” and would be “fully back on track later tonight”. Twitter suffered a massive outage when several users globally, including in India, reported having issues while posting a tweet and sending direct messages. Users likely scheduled their tweets for reporting the issues as they were not able to post it immediately. According to the outage monitor website DownDetector, over 59% of people had reported problems while using the application, 32% while using the website, and 9% with server connection. | IANS…

Mogadishu: The UN and its partners, along with Somali state and federal authorities, announced that humanitarian groups are seeking $2.6 billion (R46bn) to assist 7.6 million people as the East African nation is currently under the grip of the longest and most severe drought in its history, following five consecutive poor rainy seasons. Nearly half of the population, 8.25 million people, need immediate help and protection from the drought that has devastated Somalia. Unless humanitarian assistance is sustained and rainfall is sufficient, famine is a possibility between April and June, officials said. It is the worst drought in four decades. | IANS…