Table of contents for 2023-04-14 in Cape Times

President Cyril Ramaphosa has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to the Just Energy Transition investment plan which he said would be implemented at an affordable pace. Ramaphosa was addressing the 1 300 delegates who attended the Investment Conference at the Sandton Convention Centre yesterday. Ramaphosa announced that the optimistic R1.2 trillion five-year target had been reached in a drive to create jobs and drive economic growth. “This 5th South Africa Investment Conference affirms local and international investor confidence in the structural reforms we have been driving to improve the business environment. The energy sector remains our foremost priority. “Even as we work to improve the performance of our existing coal- fired power stations to address load shedding, we remain committed to a just energy transition and our target of achieving net…

RESIDENTIAL property prices in Cape Town have sky-rocketed by 141% since 2010, outstripping other metropolitan municipalities. This is according to Statistics SA's new residential property price index (RPPI) which compares how housing prices have increased since 2010 across the eight metropolitan municipalities and nine provinces. “Anecdotes about steep property price rises in the City of Cape Town are not without merit. Since 2010, residential property prices have grown by 141% in the City of Cape Town, outstripping other metropolitan municipalities. Since August 2014, price increases in Cape Town were consistently higher than other metros. After remaining relatively flat in 2018 and 2019, prices surged further,” read the report. The price index for the City of Johannesburg, on the other hand, recorded the slowest increase over this period, with residential property…

WHILE parents and guardians in the province say they are still experiencing challenges with the WCED online school application system, the closing date for applications is today. Education MEC David Maynier said that as of Wednesday, the department had received applications for 121 490 learners for the 2024 school year. With parents applying for more than one school for their children, the total number of individual applications to schools received thus far was 400 790. “The 2024 online application process is open until 11:59pm on April 14 2023. “It is extremely important for parents to apply on time for the coming school year, so that we can plan more effectively for places for their children. “We need the data from our admissions system to determine where there is additional demand,…

THE eight people who are out on bail in connection with alleged multimillion-rand tender fraud in the municipality’s housing portfolio are expected back in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court today. This as the City’s internal forensic report into the matter of the tender in question, 243Q, has been shared with police, something anti-crime activist Hanif Loonat and Cape Coloured Congress (CCC) leader Fadiel Adams have welcomed. The City has been accused by opposition parties and Loonat, of ducking and diving in making the findings public. Initially the City had said forensic reports were classified as confidential in terms of the City’s records management policy. This policy is aligned to the National Archives Act. It also recently said that the report was the subject of a police investigation and remained confidential.…

The lost language of the Soul Mandla Langa Loot.co.za (R266) Picador JOSEPH Mabaso is used to his father Sobhuza’s long absences from the family home in Lusaka. Sobhuza is a freedom fighter doing important work, and Joseph has learned not to ask questions. But when Chanda, his mother, disappears without a trace, leaving him and his siblings alone, Joseph knows that something is terribly wrong. And so begins a journey, physically arduous and dangerous and emotionally fraught, that no 14-year-old boy should have to undertake alone. Following the most tenuous of threads, Joseph finds some unlikely guides along the way: courageous Leila and her horses; Sis Violet and the guerrilla unit she commands; Mr Chikwedere, stonecutter and illicit trader; Madala at the Lesedi Repatriation Camp, who helps him find his…

The Dark Flood Deon Meyer Loot.co.za (R163) Hodder ALMOST fired for insubordination, detectives Benny Griessel and Vaughn Cupido find themselves demoted, exiled from the elite Hawks unit and dispatched to the leafy streets of Stellenbosch. Working a missing persons report on student Callie de Bruin is not the level of work they are used to, but it’s all they get. And soon, it takes a dangerous, deeply disturbing turn. Stellenbosch is beautiful, but its economy has been ruined by one man. Jasper Boonstra and his gigantic corporate fraud have crashed the local property market, just when estate agent Sandra Steenberg desperately needs a big sale. Bringing up twins and supporting her academic husband, she is facing disaster. Then she gets a call. From Jasper Boonstra, fraudster, sexual predator and owner…

North Korea likely fired a “new type” of ballistic missile yesterday that may have used advanced solid fuel, Seoul’s military said, representing a potential technical breakthrough for Pyongyang’s banned weapons programmes. All of Pyongyang’s known intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are liquid-fuelled, and solid-fuel ICBMs that can be launched from land or submarines have long been on top of leader Kim Jong Un’s wish list. “North Korea appears to have fired a new type of ballistic missile, possibly using solid fuel,” Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Such missiles are easier to store and transport, more stable and quicker to prepare for launch, and thus harder to detect and destroy pre-emptively. North Korea showed off a record number of nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missiles at a military parade in Pyongyang in…

Hilla: At least three people have been electrocuted in central Iraq after torrential rain played havoc with the war-ravaged country’s dilapidated power grid. The three deaths were in separate incidents in the central province of Babil, Dr Ahmed Sabbah, director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine in the provincial capital Hilla, said. The dead were aged 16, 22 and 30 and one was a woman, Sabbah said. They had all gone outside to switch off the main supply to their homes during the storm. In the northern Kurdistan region, the rains sent a river of mud through the village of Khabat. | AFP…

PANELLISTS at a breakaway session at the Fifth South African Investment Conference in Sandton said yesterday that good efficient and reliable infrastructure was a mission critical component for economic growth. Part of the attraction of South Africa as a gateway to the rest of Africa was that it had a world class communication and logistics network. Sadly the impact of Covid-19 and the associated lockdowns meant there was an increase in the theft of copper cable and metal from electricity pylons so that State-owned utilities Transnet and Eskom are no longer the reliable providers of rail and power, respectively. The theme of the conference is “Accelerating economic growth by building partnerships”, and the panellists were at pains to emphasise that the current challenges facing South Africa could only be solved…

Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola will initiate a request to Interpol to reactivate a red notice for the arrest of Atul and Rajesh Gupta who were set free after a failed extradition attempt from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This is expected to run concurrently with South African authorities resubmitting the extradition request with new and additional documentation. Reports also indicate that UAE ambassador Mahash Saeed Alhameli is to face a démarche from the South African government in the next few days over the failed extradition attempt. A démarche is considered an extreme diplomatic stance for one country to take to express its displeasure with another country. Lamola’s spokesperson Chrispin Phiri yesterday confirmed that the justice department is in the process of approaching Interpol to get the brothers…

‘He was let loose by G4S; we take full responsibility’ Justice and Constitutional Services Minister Ronald Lamola yesterday apologised for the government's failure to communicate Facebook rapist Thabo Bester’s escape on time. “I want to take this opportunity to apologise to the victims of convicted rapist Thabo Bester and the people of South Africa that he was let loose by G4S officials. “As DCS (Department of Correctional Services) we take full responsibility for this as we’re the custodian of the Correctional Services Act on behalf of the people of South Africa,” Lamola said when briefing the justice and correctional services portfolio committee yesterday. Recaptured prisoner Bester pulled off an elaborate escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre (MCC) last May. Bester and his “customary wife” Nandipha Magudumana were deported back to…

ARBITRATION will continue between the V&A Waterfront and structural engineers, GR Sutherland & Associates for remedial work to be done at the Silo Hotel estimated at R30.6 million. The Western Cape High Court recently dismissed the application by the engineers who were contracted in 2014 to modify and adapt an old grain silo in the V&A Waterfront section of the Cape Town harbour. The undertaking involved the conversion of the silo into a building that would, among other things, accommodate a luxury boutique hotel. It has since been found that part of the work done to the Silo building required the floor levels in the section of the structure that houses the boutique hotel, to be raised above the level of the solid floor slabs by means of screeding. This…

Eight people including a former South Cape TVET College chief executive were expected to appear in the George Magistrate’s Court yesterday on allegations of enriching themselves with money meant for a major construction project. They are facing a charge of corruption and 16 counts of fraud, alternatively theft, after the college lost more than R24 million. The Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team in George, together with Public Order Policing, nabbed the suspects, aged between 36 and 60, on warrants of arrest on Wednesday morning. Western Cape Hawks spokesperson, Zinzi Hani said it was alleged that between March 2009 and August 2014, the suspects, who were employees and contractors of the South Cape College, colluded together. Hani said they allegedly resolved to unlawfully and intentionally submit non-compliant bid documents and…

Sons of Mud Johan Vlok Louw Loot.co.za (R199) Umuzi AT an army base close to Voortrekkerhoogte in Pretoria, at the height of summer and South Africa’s Border War, 18-year-old recruits endure an appalling drill sergeant bent on turning them into killing machines for the SA Defence Force. They are sleep-deprived, and tension mounts in this group of disparate individuals – boys from all walks of life – expected to function as a unit. Andrew Howard-Smythe, a surfer from Durban, is the first to notice the giant Afrikaans boy, Riejkardt Jurgens, whom he describes as a cross between a heavyweight wrestler and an orangutan. After a particularly gruelling training session on a shooting range, it is Riejkardt who snaps, severely injuring three officers before he is restrained. The investigation that follows…

This year, April 10, 2023, marked the 30th anniversary of the death of one of the most revered liberators of South Africa, Martin Thembisile “Chris” Hani. Hani was both a military and political person. Just like many revolutionary people, he started in politics at an early age. He started his military training in Cape Town, where his father came to work as a migrant labourer from Cofimvaba. But his prominence, articulation and firmness emerged in the Morogoro Conference. That was where he unequivocally represented the plight of disgruntled Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) soldiers. Those MK soldiers questioned the diversion from what they left the country for, to another programme. They argued that they had risked their lives, crossing borders with the sole aim of liberating their country, not to…

Union activists barged into the Paris headquarters of luxury goods company LVMH yesterday, saying the French government should shelve plans to make people work longer for their pension and tax the rich more instead. In a 12th day of nationwide protests since mid-January, striking workers also disrupted garbage collection in Paris and blocked river traffic on part of the Rhine river in eastern France. “You’re looking for money to finance pensions? Take it from the pockets of billionaires,” said Sud Rail unionist Fabien Villedieu, as the LVMH headquarters filled with red smoke. Trade unions urged a show of force on the streets a day before the constitutional council’s ruling on the legality of the bill that will raise the state pension age by two years to 64. If the council…

Sydney: A powerful tropical cyclone hurtled towards Western Australia yesterday, triggering evacuation orders as authorities warned violent winds could toss caravans, tear down trees and turn debris into “missiles”. Tropical Cyclone Ilsa gathered strength over the Indian Ocean and Port Hedland, one of the world’s major iron ore-shipping hubs, was cleared of vessels. The Bureau of Meteorology predicted the category five storm would bring a “severe impact” with gusts of up to 315km/h, making it one of the most powerful cyclones in the state in a decade. | AFP…

SHE’S a hurdles specialist, but Zeney van der Walt could soon tackle the 400m flat event more regularly after producing a spectacular performance on Wednesday night. The 22-year-old set a new 400m personal best of 50.81 seconds at the Athletics SA Grand Prix 1 at the Tuks Stadium in Pretoria, which was also a world championship qualifying time. Her previous best was 51.41, so the significant improvement in her time shows that she means business ahead of the world championships in Budapest in August. Van der Walt’s effort was the sixth-fastest 400m time in SA history, and while she still has some way to go to chase down Caster Semenya’s 49.62 national record, she can go even faster if she runs the one-lap races more often. But the 400m hurdles…

MORE than 70 runners will participate in the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon (TTOM) this weekend to support 4-year-old living miracle Lukas van der Walt and the Little Lighthouse Foundation. Lukas was born with LMNA, an extremely rare form of congenital muscular dystrophy which is a degenerative genetic disorder that destroys muscle tissue over time. His is currently the only recorded case in South Africa. His parents, Tjaart and Lize had struggled for eight years to fall pregnant. At birth, Lukas could move his arms and legs, but now he only has movement of his feet and thumbs. His diaphragm is also dysfunctional and his breathing is assisted by a ventilation machine, though a tracheal stoma. Lize, who is a hairdresser, explains that Lukas’s mind is wide awake and he communicates…

The South African Post Office (Sapo) has been placed under provisional liquidation in terms of an order granted by the Pretoria High Court. The court further appointed Anton Shaban and Hlamalane Jerry Musi joint liquidators on March 30. Interested parties now have time to respond to the application including why a final liquidation order should not be granted. If the final order is granted, the state-owned entity’s assets would be sold off to pay its creditors and debts. David Mangena, general secretary of the South African Postal Workers’ Union, said they were only recently made aware of the situation. “We were made aware of the provisional liquidation of the SA Post Office through the media and some of our members. “We immediately tried to engage the SA Post Office, however,…

A DAVID and Goliath-like eviction battle is once again playing out in court as a group of residents, who have been living at the Circus School premises in Observatory, are threatened with eviction by the City. Yesterday, the parties, which include the City and 30 residents as the Willow Arts Collective (WAC) represented by civil rights activist organisation Ndifuna Ukwazi (NU), submitted their arguments before the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court. This after the City brought an eviction application against the residents in 2019. The WAC have made the premises – which are home to several sporting facilities including FC Cape Town, who lease the land from the City – their home and have declined alternative accommodation in outlying areas of the metro, as it would “economically destroy them”. The City…

The Bellbird River Country Choir Sophie Green Loot.co.za (R240) Sphere BELLBIRD River, 1998. Teacher and single-mum Alex has arrived in the small town after escaping the city in search of a change of pace and the chance to reconnect with her young daughter. Across town, well-known matriarch Victoria and her globe-trotting, opera-singing cousin Gabrielle find themselves at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives, while local baker Janine and newcomer to the area Debbie are each secretly dealing with the consequences of painful pasts. With its dusty streets, lone pub and iron-lace verandas, Bellbird River could just be a pit stop on the road to somewhere else. But their town holds some secrets and surprises – and it has a heart: the Bellbird River choir. Amid the melodies and…

Losing Music: A Memoir John Cotter Milkweed When John Cotter suddenly began to suffer from deafness, tinnitus and roiling vertigo at the age of 30, he found himself thrust into a medical mystery. In Losing Music, he chronicles his experience with what was eventually diagnosed as Ménière’s disease, a rare – and incurable – condition that affects an estimated 750 000 people in the US. By age 35, fitted with hearing aids that only partly helped, he was walking with a cane, prone to unpredictable fits of vomiting, unable to reliably work and unsure about how much longer he would be able to hear at all. Losing Music offers a compelling portrait of how deafness isolates people from even those closest to them. Cotter quotes Helen Keller: “Blindness separates people…

His whole life was about righting the wrongs of others and making SA a just, fair place THIS past week has been a blur of emotion as I struggle to come to terms with the fact that a man who played such a huge and important role in my life, and who has been a source of inspiration, wisdom, and guidance to me for the past three decades, is no more. Advocate Dr Wallace Amos Mgoqi, the chairperson of the Board of Ayo Technology Solutions (AYO), was a giant among men. Tall and imposing in stature certainly, but like Nelson Mandela, an undeniable presence. To be in his company, it was immediately apparent this charisma was backed by a sharp mind and a caring heart, qualities that ultimately stood the…

Sudan’s regular army warned yesterday that the country was at a “dangerous … turning point” after paramilitaries deployed more fighters in major cities amid a deepening rift within the military government. Military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has increasingly been at odds with his number two, paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, during talks to finalise a deal to return the country to civilian rule and end the crisis sparked by their 2021 coup. A plan to integrate the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by Daglo into the regular army led by Burhan is one of the key points of contention, analysts have said. Eleventh-hour haggling within the security forces over the details have twice forced postponement of the signing of an agreement with civilian factions setting out a roadmap for the…

DUBLIN: US President Joe Biden said yesterday during a three-day tour of Ireland that investigators were closing in on the source of the leak of highly classified intelligence documents, in what is believed to be the most serious and embarrassing security breach in a decade. The US Department of Justice opened a formal criminal probe last week after the matter was referred by the Pentagon. The person who leaked the documents was a gun enthusiast in his 20s who worked on a military base, the Washington Post reported, citing fellow members of an online chat group. | Reuters…