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

TWELVE students are set to appear in the Alice Magistrate’s Court today for the torching of a University of Fort Hare (UFH) exam venue. Aggrieved students set fire to the UFH indoor sports centre on Sunday night, just hours before the start of mid-year exams. It is alleged that students stormed the exam venue, removed furniture and torched the building. Student Representative Council (SRC) president, Siphokazi Mbalo, said students from the faculty of education had raised concerns about their exam timetable. “Their grievance was that the timetable was congested and had clashes that were inconveniencing them. I tried to intervene with the dean of education and called a meeting where a new draft timetable was drafted, but the students rejected it. On Sunday students convened a meeting where I wasn’t…

THE South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) claims former Springbok wing Ashwin Willemse’s failure to respond led to its decision to close the probe into alleged racial discrimination against him at SuperSport. This has raised questions around how it could opt to close the probe without getting to the bottom of why Willemse did not respond. On May 19, 2018, during the post-match analysis of a Super Rugby match, Willemse left the set, expressing his refusal to be undermined and patronised by fellow studio analysts Nick Mallett and Naas Botha, who had played rugby in the apartheid era. Willemse cited racism as one of the factors that led to his walkout. SAHRC spokesperson, Wisani Baloyi told the Cape Times yesterday that the investigation was in…

A TEAM of Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) investigators has been sent to the Eastern Cape to investigate the cause of a head-on collision that claimed the lives of 11 people, including a toddler, and left 14 others injured. According to an accident report seen by the Cape Times, at about 1pm on Sunday, it is alleged that a Toyota minibus taxi driving from Flagstaff direction towards Lusikisiki tried to overtake three vehicles on a road under construction. The taxi driver, transporting 16 occupants, collided with a city-to-city bus transporting 18 people, on the R61-10 near Dlibona. “The fatally injured passengers were from the minibus taxi. Eight passengers from the bus and five from the minibus were seriously injured and were taken to St Elizabeth hospital whereas the minibus driver…

TEACHING and learning activities have resumed at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) following resolutions reached between the executive management and student leaders. The activities continued yesterday, a few days after the university opened its residence doors following an abrupt evacuation amid violent protest actions. The university’s spokesperson Lauren Kansley said mid-year assessments were expected to start on June 17. “A task team representing the academic project was tasked with presenting a plan for the most effective and beneficial return to campus for both staff and students. After deliberating on a range of scenarios presented to sectors of the CPUT community, senate and exco of council have given final approval,” said Kansley. Student grievances such as funding concerns were National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) related while others were institutional…

The Auditor-General’s latest report on the state of the country’s municipalities makes for grim reading. In delivering the 2021-22 consolidated general report on the local government audit outcomes last week, AG Tsakani Maluleke called on municipalities to build a culture of accountability. She warned that the state of local government is deteriorating and requires urgent attention from authorities at local and provincial levels. ​Sadly, Maluleke’s comments are nothing new as previous reports from her office have shown the same downward trend each financial year. ​There were fewer clean audits recorded with “instability that occurred with the transition to the new administration” put forth as one of the reasons for the decline. Maluleke lamented that inadequate skills and capacity, governance failures and lack of accountability and consequences were the root causes…

I REFER to the article “McLaren Circus Responds”, Cape Times, May 31. The debate about using wild animals in circuses goes back and forth between those who are anti and those who support this controversial practice. It is well documented that wild animals in circuses are often beaten, shocked, kicked, starved or cruelly confined in order to train them to be obedient and perform so-called (unnatural) tricks. Surely wild animals deserve the right to freedom and to live as naturally as possible. It is also believed many animals are drugged during performances to lose their wildness and desire to attack or defend themselves. Many circus animals become dysfunctional, unhealthy, depressed and/or aggressive as a result of the unnatural and unrelenting confinement in which they are kept. I wonder how…

Britain has ordered two more accommodation barges to house asylum-seekers, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced yesterday. Sunak has pledged to stop crossings of the Channel from northern Europe made in small boats, after record numbers of people arrived last year. But huge backlogs in the processing of applications have put the government under pressure, particularly over housing people while their claims are dealt with. On a visit to the Channel port of Dover, Sunak announced new sites at former Royal Air Force bases to accommodate “hundreds” in the coming months. “Nearly 3 000” will be housed there by the end of the year, he added, arguing it would ease pressure on costly hotels where many migrants have been staying. “To reduce pressures on local communities, we will also house people…

KABUL: About 60 Afghan girls were hospitalised after being poisoned at their school in northern Afghanistan, police said yesterday. The poisoning, which targeted a girls’ school in the Afghan province of Sar-e Pol, comes after intense scrutiny of girls’ education in the war-torn nation since the Taliban took over and barred most teenage female students and after a wave of poison attacks on girls’ schools in neighbouring Iran. In Iran, poisoning incidents had impacted an estimated 13 000 female students since November. Under Afghanistan’s previous foreign-backed government, several poisoning attacks, including suspected gas attacks, on girls’ schools had taken place. | Reuters…

Jakarta: The US and China have sent warships to the multinational naval drills that began in Indonesia yesterday, despite the rifts between the two powers. Washington and Beijing are engaged in fierce competition on diplomatic, military, technological and economic fronts. The US military has stepped up its Asia-Pacific operations to counter China, which has staged several rounds of war drills around Taiwan. But both dispatched warships to the 2023 Multilateral Naval Exercise hosted by Indonesia in its eastern waters off Sulawesi island. The US Navy has sent a littoral combat ship to the exercise, the US embassy said. | AFP…

Sydney: New Zealand honoured former prime minister Jacinda Ardern with the title of dame yesterday, citing her leadership after the 2019 Christchurch mosque massacre and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Ardern, 42, stepped down in January, retiring from politics, saying she no longer had “enough in the tank”. Her successor, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, said Ardern had been named a dame in the King’s Birthday and Coronation Honours List. King Charles III is also head of state in New Zealand. “Leading New Zealand’s response to the 2019 terrorist attacks and to the Covid-19 pandemic represented periods of intense challenge for our 40th prime minister, during which time I saw first-hand that her commitment to New Zealand remained absolute,” Hipkins said. Ardern said she had been in “two minds” about accepting…

Cape Town Spurs vice-captain Jarrod Moroole says the team is on a mission to consolidate their quest for Premiership promotion by emerging winners in tomorrow’s PSL promotion/relegation playoff match against Casric Stars at Athlone Stadium. Moroole, a former Stellenbosch FC defensive midfielder, is one of the experienced hands in the Spurs team. He is also one of four former Maritzburg United players who sent the KwaZulu-Natal visitors packing with a win at Athlone Stadium over the weekend. The other former players who once wore the colours of Maritzburg were Clayton Daniels, Michael Morton - who scored the winner on Saturday - and Nazeer Ali. It was a huge setback for Maritzburg in the three-team mini-league, and Moroole feels Spurs can inflict further damage by defeating Mpumalanga visitors Casric. “It is…

THE Section 194 inquiry into the fitness of Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is expected to hear her answering questions on matters she has already been led on regarding Bosasa and the so-called SARS unit when it resumes tomorrow. The inquiry was set to resume yesterday after the MPs were briefed on Friday about Mkhwebane’s legal representation with Advocate Dali Mpofu continuing as the senior counsel, along with two junior advocates that have been with the inquiry since it started. The inquiry was halted at the end of March when the Public Protector of South Africa office ran out of funds. When additional funds were sourced, there were postponements to allow Mkhwebane to obtain legal representation after her attorneys for record Seanego Attorneys withdrew. In a letter dated June 4 to…

Parliament hails her as an astute politician who used her skills to advance legislative work ANC veteran Tina Joemat-Pettersson has been described as a pillar of strength in the Struggle, a true servant of the people, following her death yesterday at the age of 59. A former Cabinet minister, Joemat-Pettersson was currently serving as an MP and the chairperson of the portfolio committee on police. National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and National Council of Provinces chairperson Amos Masondo said her untimely passing “was a great loss not only to her family and political party but the nation which she has served in various capacities”. “Ms Joemat-Pettersson’s passing has left us reeling with shock. She will be remembered as an astute politician who used her skills, talents, and knowledge to advance…

THE National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has confirmed an increase in influenza cases around the country, with reports of influenza clusters in schools and workplaces. Influenza cases at sentinel influenza-like illness (ILI) and pneumonia surveillance sites have been steadily increasing since the week of April 10. Private laboratories have also detected increasing numbers of influenza cases, and the NICD has received reports of influenza clusters in schools and workplaces. The 2023 influenza season started in the week starting 27 April 2023 when the influenza detection rate (3-week moving average) breached the seasonal threshold and remained on low activity for two consecutive weeks in the pneumonia surveillance programme, the NICD said. The increase in case numbers has been identified in all six provinces where surveillance is conducted. As of May…

THE woman shot dead in a brazen attack outside the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court last month was an accused in a murder case. This emerged yesterday after the three men arrested in connection with her murder appeared in court following their arrest at the weekend. The men have been charged with murder, attempted murder, illegal possession of a firearm, and illegal possession of ammunition. The case was postponed to June 13 for accused one to obtain a lawyer. The State will oppose their bail application, said National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila. Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions, advocate Nicolette Bell, said the NPA was deeply saddened by the murder of the woman, who was shot in the proximity of the court. “At the time of her death, she was…

Political parties won’t act decisively unless South Africans demand it THE irreversible consequences of poverty and chronic unemployment coupled with incompetence and corruption in South Africa’s municipalities that were once a footnote in the news cycle are increasingly making headlines. Many privileged people living in leafy suburbs and working in air-conditioned offices would hardly have noticed. Still, those in the coalface of the deteriorating administration of municipal governments have constantly alerted decision-makers of the dangers ahead. Those paying attention were not surprised by the Auditor-General of SA Tsakani Maluleke’s repeated warnings contained in the Consolidated General Report on Local Government Audit Outcomes such as the one released on May 31. South Africans must brace themselves for hard times ahead as more and more municipalities are plunging into such financial disarray…

A growing number of contenders for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination could clear the way for a Donald Trump victory while throwing up roadblocks for his main rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, party members and strategists said. Republicans who fear Trump is too polarising a figure to beat Democratic President Joe Biden in 2024 worry that if too many candidates jump into the party’s contest, they will splinter the anti-Trump vote. That would allow the former president to clinch the nomination, just as he did in similar circumstances in 2016. Former vice-president Mike Pence, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie and North Dakota governor Doug Burgum are planning to enter the fray this week, bringing the number of challengers to front-runner Trump into the double digits. Political analysts estimate that…

After spending 20 years in jail, a woman once called Australia’s “worst female serial killer” was pardoned yesterday after new evidence suggested she did not kill her four infants. New South Wales Attorney General Michael Daley intervened to order Kathleen Folbigg be freed, based on the preliminary findings of an inquiry that had found “reasonable doubt” as to her guilt for all four deaths. The 55-year-old’s case has been described as one of Australia’s greatest miscarriages of justice. Folbigg was jailed in 2003 on three counts of murder and one of manslaughter following the deaths of her four children – Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura – over a decade from 1989. In each case, she was the person who found their bodies, but no physical evidence showed that she had…

ESMERALDAS: More than 500 people were evacuated from their homes in northern Ecuador yesterday following flooding caused by heavy rains, President Guillermo Lasso said. No one had been reported dead or missing. Residents climbed on to the roofs or balconies of their homes to protect themselves from the rising waters, images released by the Defence Ministry showed. Rain had fallen for 12 hours without interruption, causing six rivers to overflow, Lasso said. Authorities evacuated around 500 people by boat and another 30 by helicopter. Around 11 750 people were affected by the floods; 16 lost their homes in the Esmeraldas province bordering Colombia. | AFP…

Dhaka: Cash-strapped Bangladesh shut its biggest power plant yesterday because it was unable to afford the coal to fuel it, as a sweltering heatwave creates surging electricity demand. The 1 320-megawatt government-run Payra Power Plant in southern Bangladesh had already slashed production last month due to fuel shortages, but it was forced to go a step further yesterday Bangladesh is struggling against a depreciating currency. The country has faced nationwide blackouts of up to five hours a day in recent weeks as a heatwave sweeps across the country. Bangladesh recorded a temperature of 41.1°C yesterday. | AFP…

Max Verstappen demonstrated that he and Red Bull have enough performance advantage in hand to deliver an unprecedented year, by winning every race. His masterful triumph in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix was the team’s seventh out of seven this year. Lewis Hamilton came home a distant second in his heavily upgraded Mercedes, but admitted it was unrealistic for them to catch the Red Bulls before 2024. Here, we looks at three things we learned from Sunday’s race at the Circuit de Catalunya. Max-imum supremacy signals Red Bull dominion Team chief Christian Horner was at pains to distance himself and Red Bull from any talk of winning every race after this victory, but in praising Mercedes’ upgrade he highlighted the feeble form of their rivals. None of Aston Martin, Ferrari or…

WITHOUT belabouring the point, South Africa finds itself in trouble. We have the brains trust to help us get out of the quagmire we seem determined to sink into, but do we have the will? I know I speak for many when I say that many of us positive, happy people are all running on the reserves of our optimism at present. Everyone has ideas on how to overcome the obstacles that currently beset us, but it is their implementation and the lack of true leaders that are the stumbling block to seeing South Africa right its trajectory. In truth, the country has a dearth of good leaders and those that we have often sing a tune counter to the prevailing narrative and fight to have their voices heard above…

THE Water and Sanitation Department is strengthening its regulatory role over municipal water and sanitation services to mitigate against the total collapse of services and infrastructure. This follows the deaths of 26 people following the outbreak of cholera in Hammanskraal. Responding to parliamentary questions from EFF MP Rebecca Mohlala, Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu said the reliability of municipal water and sanitation services was generally deteriorating as evidenced by the Green Drop and Blue Drop assessments. “During this financial year we will be consulting on updated and more comprehensive norms and standards for water and sanitation services, in terms of the Water Services Act. “We will also publish a National Regulatory Dashboard showing the extent of compliance with the national norms and standards for water services for all water…

FORMER BRICS Business Council chairman Dr Iqbal Survé was recently presented with the Russian Foreign Ministry’s medal for co-operation by that country’s minister of foreign affairs Sergey Lavrov who is in Cape Town for the meeting of the BRICS’ foreign affairs and international relations ministers. Survé, a South African business leader, has been recognised for his contribution to peaceful co-operation, sustainability and international friendship by Spain, the US, Finland, and Saudi Arabia. Survé emphasised “the significance of non-alignment, the pursuit of peaceful co-operation, and the promotion of international friendship”. At the ceremony in which Lavrov presented Survé with the prize, he remarked on the important part Survé played in the BRICS Business Council. Throughout the course of his career, Survé has been honoured by more than seven different nations and…

THE Cape of Good Hope SPCA has lodged a complaint against the Harare SAPS for allegedly releasing a suspect arrested for dogfighting without formally charging him. The SPCA said it received information about dogfighting at a property in Monwabisi Park, Khayelitsha last month. The SPCA raided the property and found several dogs living on short, static chains and several presented with scarring patterns synonymous with dog fighting. A dog fighting pit, complete with blood evidence, was also found on the property. SPCA spokesperson Belinda Abraham said the suspect was arrested and handed over to Harare SAPS where he was detained. “A criminal docket was opened by our inspectors but unfortunately the Harare SAPS failed to register the case and released the suspect without following due process,” she said. Abraham said…

With consumers battling interest rate hikes and rampant inflation outstripping salaries, a rare bit of good news of fuel price decreases was widely welcomed yesterday. Consumers have been under pressure after the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) hiked the interest rate by 50 basis points last month. The inflation rate was 6.8% in April, a slight drop from 7.1% in March. The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) announced yesterday that both grades of petrol (93 and 95 ULP & LRP) will decrease by 71 cents per litre while diesel (0.05% sulphur) will decrease by 84c per litre and diesel (0.005% sulphur) will decrease by 80c per litre tomorrow. Economists have welcomed the news but warned that due to the weaker rand, a fuel price increase might be…

JUNE is dedicated to the youth of this county. This dedication is framed along an epoch of time. Importantly, we pay tribute to the young people that perished in what we have come to know as the Soweto uprising. The events of June 16, 1976 in Soweto attest to the importance of youth activism especially towards a common goal of betterment. June also reminds us of the present, a difficult context young people are currently living under. This includes a cloud of uncertainty created by the energy crisis. Young people are also facing challenges related to unemployment, this is shown in the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey. Amid all this despair, there is a need to continually keep focus on the future. This is a future that includes young people…

Russia said yesterday it had repelled “a large-scale offensive” by Ukrainian forces in the Moscow-occupied Donetsk region as Kyiv was silent about plans to claw back lost territory. Ukrainian officials meanwhile were expected to hold talks with Pope Francis’ peace envoy, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who headed to Kyiv yesterday for two days of negotiations. Ukraine says it has been preparing a major offensive after months of stalemate to recapture territory lost since Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops in February last year. But officials have been tight-lipped about the details. On Sunday, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov posted a cryptic tweet, citing lyrics from Depeche Mode’s song, Enjoy the Silence. “Words are very unnecessary,” he tweeted. “They can only do harm.” Military experts expect Ukrainian forces to test…

Shelling hit western areas of Sudan’s capital yesterday after rival military factions fought through the night, residents said, with reports of deepening lawlessness in Khartoum and in the western region of Darfur. Fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who have been battling each other for more than seven weeks, intensified after the expiry late on Saturday of a ceasefire deal brokered by Saudi Arabia and the US. The conflict has uprooted more than 1.2 million people within Sudan and sent about 400 000 fleeing into neighbouring countries. There has been heavy damage inflicted on the capital where remaining residents are at the mercy of battles, air strikes and lawlessness. In Khartoum East district, RSF troops who have spread out in areas across the capital were…

Istanbul: Airlines will return to profit and fly a near-record 4.35 billion passengers this year, but the sector’s post-pandemic recovery remains fragile. The industry is forecast to post net profits totalling $9.8 billion (R189bn) in 2023, boosted by the end of China’s Covid restrictions, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said yesterday. Airlines transported a record 4.54 billion people in 2019 before Covid-19. The industry lost $137bn when countries imposed lockdowns and closed borders in 2020. The sector lost another $42bn in 2021 and was still in the red last year as China enforced Covid restrictions, finally lifted in December. | AFP…

LONDON: Prince Harry’s lawyers accused a British tabloid publisher yesterday of sowing “the seeds of discord” with his elder brother Prince William, after the royal earlier failed to appear at London’s High Court. Harry, King Charles’ younger son, is one of more than 100 high-profile figures suing the Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), for alleged phone-hacking between 1991 and 2011. The prince will face hours of questioning today, after he did not attend court yesterday Harry’s lawyer, David Sherborne, yesterday accused MGN of engendering the “mistrust” between him and his brother William 20 years ago. | Reuters…

King Richard. Scrolling through the channels, I initially thought it was simply another movie trying to propagate colonial dominance. But to my pleasant surprise, it was actually the title of the biographical sports drama profiling Richard Williams – father and coach of tennis superstars Venus and Serena – and his lifelong dedication to moulding his daughters into multiple Grand Slam winners. Not everyone agreed with Richard’s methods. He had the neighbours calling the police and social services to come to the Williams' household to investigate if he was driving those girls too hard. And he was met with even fiercer criticism when he withdrew Venus and Serena from junior competitions to focus on being “normal children”. I believe that Shukri Conrad and Dewald Brevis share a similar relationship. The coach…

The Sharks have confirmed their new coaching structures for their senior and junior teams ahead of the 2023-24 season. As previously reported, Neil Powell will relinquish the coaching reins and step back into his role as director of rugby at the coastal franchise. Powell was the coach of the United Rugby Championship team after Sean Everitt was shown the door at the start of last season. Powell will now shift his focus back to strengthening the structures of the Sharks. New Zealander John Plumtree, a previous head coach of the Durban side, comes into the role again and has the responsibility of leading the Sharks to a first-ever semi-final in next season's URC. They have been knocked out in the quarter-finals in the first and second seasons of the tournament,…

ON a cool Monday morning, out in this quaint, high-altitude town in Mpumalanga, a group of seven runners turn heads as they fly through the heart of the business area. It is the sole female runner lagging behind her male teammates who attracts the most attention, with some onlookers expressing pity for her. She appears to be struggling, lost even as she seeks to close the seemingly ever-increasing gap between her and the men. She is not giving up though. And the onlookers need not have worried, for while she was last in training, Galaletsang Mekgoe is going to be among the top finishers at the Comrades Marathon this weekend. It is a change in fortune that the 27-year-old from Luka in Phokeng, near Rustenburg, would not have imagined not…

AmaZulu announced big changes to all structures at the club following a largely disappointing 2022-23 season. The KwaZulu-Natal-based club held a press briefing on Monday morning, led by club president Sandile Zungu, who provided his analysis of his team’s performance this season and revealed his future plans. Usuthu, even after an impressive first quarter of the season, flirted with relegation, and by the end of the season they finished just three points outside the drop zone in 12th. The team were first coached by Brandon Truter, Romain Folz and lastly Ayanda Dlamini concluded the season with a record of seven wins, 12 draws and 11 losses in stark contrast to a team that led the Premiership after five matches. Zungu and his board of directors have acted swiftly in an…