Table of contents for 2023-11-03 in Cape Times

THE Springboks will be in Cape Town today and are set to touch base in Parliament as part of their nationwide tour, but not everybody is pleased. This emerged yesterday when the parliamentary programme committee heard that the Springboks would be received by MPs and management between 9.30am and 10.30am before heading to the Grand Parade, with some political parties saying that other sporting codes had not set foot in the parliamentary precinct. The secretary to Parliament, Xolile George, said: “We have identified the front entrance stairs of the NCOP (National Council of Provinces) as a designated point of receiving them. The buses will drop them off at the lower gate and then they will access the NCOP.” He said they would restrict access to the public given the limited…

FORMER vice-chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng – depicted as having an “antagonistic” leadership style, backed by UCT council chairperson Babalwa Ngonyama – said she was studying the university’s independent panel report with her legal team and would “take appropriate steps as deemed necessary” in due course. The two have been blamed for UCT’s governance crisis following an independent panel report chaired by retired Supreme Court of Appeal president Judge Lex Mpati, tasked to investigate challenges at the university. The report found that Phakeng repeatedly conducted herself unprofessionally. “(Doing so) by engaging in activity that is prohibited in the UCT workplace, including using threats, intimidation, ethnic slurs, personal insults and also posting racially offensive material on social media.” Phakeng was further accused of instituting petty charges if she disliked a staff member…

ON the eve of the much anticipated independent panel’s report being released, UCT Worker-Student-Academic Forum marched against the university’s council, accusing it of being anti-black, and particularly anti-black women. This comes as lecturer Dr Lwazi Lushaba and deputy vice-chancellor for Transformation, Student Affairs and Social Responsiveness, Professor Elelwani Ramugondo are the latest academics to be roped in following former vice-chancellor, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng’s leadership issues. The panel, which described the two as “Phakeng’s supporters” has recommended that disciplinary action be instituted against Lushaba and Ramugondo. It was tasked with investigating governance failures at UCT and made the findings public on Wednesday. “Dr Lushaba breached council’s code of conduct by using threats, intimidation, ethnic slurs, personal insults and generally conducting himself in a racially intolerable and disruptive manner during council…

The Babysitter Emma Curtis Loot.co.za (R236) Corvus Claudia’s life imploded 10 years ago when she was convicted of the murder of her child. Now she has done the unthinkable and confessed to manslaughter in order to be granted parole, her only hope of finding out what really happened to Tilly. Sara is married to Joe, Claudia’s ex-husband, and they have a young child together. She finally has everything she ever wanted, but Claudia’s release threatens the perfect life she has created. Anna was the babysitter who let Claudia and Joe down on the day their daughter disappeared. Married with a child of her own, Claudia's reappearance in her quiet cul-de-sac is an unwelcome surprise. These three women are tied together in more ways than they realise. But only one of…

Lee Child had two ideas for how Jack Reacher, the toweringly popular hero of his long-running series of thrillers, might die. First, he thought Reacher would get into one last fight and bleed out on the bathroom floor of a filthy motel. But when he said so at book events, fans seemed viscerally disturbed by the idea, distressed, in a way that made him think that to follow through on it would be “gratuitously nasty”. Every book ends with Reacher emptying his pockets and skipping town. In the last one, he’d almost be at the bus depot when he’d realise: He’d settle down and get a dog. But this seemed only marginally kinder. Child had also imagined how his career would end: honourably. Growing up, he’d felt such intense, bewildered…

THE 20th Africa Growth Opportunity Act (Agoa) Forum convened by US President Joe Biden is taking place at Nasrec in Johannesburg amid a curious mix of national euphoria and continental angst. No doubt Ramaphosa reminded his American and Continental African guests that they are visiting the country of the World Rugby Champions as he did in 2019 at the South Africa Investment Conference after Amabokoboko won the World Cup in Yokohama in Japan and the rand similarly rallied against the greenback and sterling. And they say that sports and politics don’t mix. The Springboks’ resilience, on and off the field, seems to be matched by American resolve in its trade and investment playbook with the 35 Agoa accession countries. Two days before the Agoa Forum, Biden wrote to the leaders…

Five people were killed by falling trees as Storm Ciaran battered Western Europe yesterday, bringing record winds as high as 200km/h, floods, blackouts and major travel disruptions. Some 1.2 million French homes lost electricity overnight as the storm lashed the northwest coast, and most remained without power yesterday. Falling trees killed a lorry driver in his vehicle in France’s Aisne region, a man in the Dutch town of Venray, a woman in central Madrid, a person in Germany and another person in the Belgian city of Ghent, according to police reports. “The wind gusts are exceptional in Brittany and many absolute records have been broken,” Meteo-France, the national weather service, said on X (formerly Twitter). The prefect for the local department said gusts as high as 20 km/h were…

Athens: Greece has “normalised” abusive pushbacks of migrants under a broader EU policy that ignores violence against people in need, the international charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said yesterday. Tens of thousands of migrants, mostly from Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, have entered Greece in recent years from the sea and land borders with Türkiye. .Greece has stepped up patrols in the Aegean Sea with the help of the European Border Surveillance Agency, Frontex. In June, a dilapidated and overloaded former trawler capsized and sank off Pylos in the Peloponnese, drowning 82 people. | AFP…

NEW YORK: Donald Trump’s son Donald Trump jr yesterday acknowledged in court that he signed financial documents for the family company that a New York judge has ruled were fraudulent, but sought to pin the blame on others who worked on them. In a second day of testimony, Donald jr, 45, said he relied on accountants within the Trump Organisation and outside firm Mazars to ensure that financial estimates of trophy properties and other assets were accurate. “They had more information and details than I would have,” he said. The former US president is scheduled to testify on Monday. | Reuters…

TEHRAN: Iranian prison authorities have blocked 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi’s hospital transfer for urgently needed care over her refusal to wear the compulsory hijab, her family said. Veteran rights activist Mohammadi, 51, who is being held in Tehran’s Evin prison, was awarded the prize in October “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran”. Prison authorities have refused to transfer Mohammadi, who has heart and lung conditions, to a hospital outside Evin, her family said, saying her health and life were at risk. | AFP…

MURRAY & Roberts Holdings (M&R) yesterday sought to allay concern among stakeholders about its debt and sustainability, and the global civil engineering and contracting group and local construction industry icon said a plan to deleverage will mean that a rights issue is not necessary. The group admitted in a trading update that its past year to June 30, 2023 had been the most challenging for it since the 2008 global financial crisis, as it struggled to recover from the after-effects of the pandemic. The share price traded at 67 cents on the JSE yesterday, this after falling steadily from R4.25 a year before as the group’s financial difficulties became more apparent. “The pandemic created a difficult operating environment for the group’s entire multibillion-rand project portfolio, which caused a significant…

FINANCE Minister Enoch Godongwana yesterday said it was too early to say whether there would be an increase in taxes when he tables the 2024 budget in February next year. Responding to questions during a meeting with parliamentary committees on finance and appropriation, Godongwana said the medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) does not deal with tax issues. “Tax issues are dealt with in the normal budget in February,” he said. Godongwana was responding to DA MP Dion George, who asked whether he would increase VAT, personal income tax or any other tax, given the shortfall in revenue. “To the extent that there is an expectation that we could have or should say something about tax matters, I think it is too early to make such a commitment whether we are…

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa maintains there was no intention to review the mandate of the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb), as MPs propose a different approach to interest rate hikes to soften the blow to struggling South Africans and grow the economy. This emerged as he appeared in the National Assembly for the last time this year, answering oral questions from MPs. He told the MPs there was no intention to review Sarb’s mandate as it was set out in the Constitution to protect “the value of the currency in the interest of balanced and sustained economic growth”. ANC MP Phumulo Masualle said the central bank had over the past two years consistently hiked interest rates, constraining consumption in the economy and adversely affecting economic recovery and growth. “What methods has…

Tweeting ‘I will not be silenced. Israel is committing Genocide. Full BLOODY stop’, violated the caucus decision DA leader John Steenhuisen fired his outspoken public enterprises shadow minister Ghaleb Cachalia from his ‘cabinet’ for breaking ranks with the party over its stance on the Israel-Palestine war. Steenhuisen wrote to Cachalia yesterday informing him of his decision to remove him for going against the party’s national caucus decision that members should refrain from making public pronouncements. Cachalia had tweeted that he would not be silenced and went on to accuse Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians. This appears to have ruffled feathers in the DA, with Steenhuisen saying in his letter: “I hereby inform you that I have taken the decision to relieve you of your position as a member of…

Your face belongs to us Author: Kashmir Hill Loot.co.za (R328) Simon & Schuster ANONYMITY no longer exists. A US company has secretly amassed 30 billion images of people across the world without their knowledge – and uploads 75 million new photographs to its database daily. Clearview AI has developed a powerful app capable of identifying almost anyone whose photo and name has appeared on the internet, even when they are wearing a hat, glasses or a mask. Journalist Kashmir Hill, who details the chilling information in her book, Your Face Belongs To Us, says Clearview AI has more images than the amount of people on Earth and, for many individuals, the company has different versions of their face. By simply uploading a photo, the database will show you all the…

The Leftover Woman Jean Kwok Loot.co.za (R 249) Viper Jasmine Yang thought her daughter was dead at birth. But five years after she was taken from her arms, she learns that her controlling husband sent the baby to America to be adopted, a casualty of China’s one-child-policy. Fleeing her rural Chinese village, Jasmine arrives in New York City with nothing except a desperate need to find her daughter. Meanwhile, Rebecca Whitney seems to have it all: a high-powered career, a beautiful home, a handsome husband, and an adopted Chinese daughter she adores. But when an industry scandal threatens to jeopardise not only Rebecca’s job but her marriage, this perfect world begins to crumble. Two women in a divided city, separated by wealth and culture, yet bound together by their love…

The Girl Within The Skin Natalie Doralingo Loot.co.za (R R129) Self published Nelia Baker’s life gets turned into one of her fantasy writing pieces when TV series producer Jake Anderson wants to work with her. Life in the fantasy world is more complicated than she anticipated as it starts to confuse her reality. Recovering from her mother’s death, Nelia focuses most of her energy on escaping in one of her writing realms, where she is most at home these days. Her father, Nate, tries his best to be her support system, but things get a bit complicated along the way when Nelia’s college boyfriend proposes to her and simultaneously she receives a job opportunity in Italy to be a screenwriter. Which world will she prefer, the written fantasy or her…

After the Springboks’ dramatic 12-11 Rugby World Cup final triumph over the All Blacks in Paris last Saturday, captain Siya Kolisi stated that he will only really feel the magnitude of their achievement once he comes back home – and he certainly got the love this week. The Boks received a rapturous welcome at OR Tambo Airport on Tuesday, and that trend continued in Gauteng yesterday as thousands of South Africans lined the streets of Pretoria and Johannesburg to cheer on the champions at the start of their World Cup Trophy Tour. They finished their day at the FNB Stadium in Soweto, and the tour will move on to Cape Town today, and Durban and East London over the weekend. This week’s celebrations have been a true showcase of the…

A summit on trade relations between Africa and the US got under way in South Africa yesterday, as Pretoria and Washington mend relations after a spat over accusations that the former has cozied up to Russia. Ministers from about 40 sub-Saharan African countries benefiting from the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, are to hold talks with US envoys for three days in Johannesburg. The choice of South Africa as host for the annual summit was “a sign of our commitment to our bilateral relationship”, Joy Basu, US deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said. Approved by the US Congress in 2000, AGOA is the cornerstone of US economic and trade policy on the continent. The pact offers duty-free access into the world’s largest economy for countries…

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin yesterday signed off on a law revoking Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, a move he says is designed to bring Moscow into line with the US. Russia says it will not resume testing unless Washington does and that its de-ratification does not change its nuclear posture. Washington had signed but never ratified the 1996 treaty and Putin had said he wanted Russia, which had signed and ratified it, to adopt the same stance on it as the US. Western arms control experts fear Russia may be considering a test to intimidate amid the Ukraine war, an idea Russian officials have played down. | Reuters…

GENEVA: The largest internally flawless fancy vivid blue diamond ever put up for auction could sell for up to $50 million (R922m) at a Christie’s sale of rare jewels in Geneva on November 7, the auctioneer said yesterday. Known as “Bleu Royal”, this vivid blue diamond, set in a ring, is among the rarest ever to be unearthed. “What makes Bleu Royal so rare and special is its size. At 17.6 carats, it’s the largest of its kind,” said Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s international head of jewellery. “The colour is very rich naturally, and it is internally flawless as best as can be.” In 2016, Christie’s sold a diamond for more than $57m. | Reuters…

Los Angeles: Angelina Jolie, apart from being an acclaimed Hollywood actress, is also an activist and has been keeping a close watch on Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas. Taking to her social media, the actress called world leaders complicit in the death of thousands of people in Gaza as they have refused to demand a ceasefire. On her Instagram account, she shared a picture of the horrifying devastation that has taken place, and wrote a lengthy message critiquing the role of world leaders for their inability to stop the war. She wrote: “This is the deliberate bombing of a trapped population who have nowhere to flee. Gaza has been an open-air prison for nearly two decades and is fast becoming a mass grave… While the world watches, and with the…

Mohammed Shami took five wickets as India’s pacemen produced a devastating display to skittle Sri Lanka for just 55 as the unbeaten tournament hosts secured a World Cup semi-final place with a colossal 302-run win in Mumbai yesterday. Sri Lanka’s woeful innings featured five noughts, with both their openers falling for golden ducks as they slumped to 14/6 chasing 358. Shami took 5/18 in five overs after Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj struck with the new ball in an innings with a top score of just 14. Bumrah, with 1/8 in five overs, and Siraj (3/16 in seven) did the early damage before Shami took two wickets in two balls as Sri Lanka’s rapid collapse continued. Earlier, there was some disappointment for the home crowd when Virat Kohli missed out…

THE MAJORITY of Baby Boomers (people born in the years 1946 to 1964) have reached retirement age and, for a number of reasons, are generally not well prepared financially for retirement. Now, the next generation, Gen X (those born in 1965 through to 1980) is approaching retirement age and, recent research shows, may be even less prepared. While Boomers were, on the whole, better educated and earned more than preceding generations, they faced challenges new to their generation, notably increased longevity and the migration by the retirement industry in the 1980s and 90s from defined-benefit to defined-contribution funds. As a result, to ensure a comfortable retirement, they had to save over and above what they accumulated in a company pension scheme. The generation the Boomers engendered, Gen…

The world as we know it has changed. Blame it on the Covid-19 pandemic and the extensive changes it brought, or the explosive and unprecedented rise in social media platforms and the digital sphere as a whole. But life and the way society interacts with itself is not what it used to be. This too extends to the beauty industry, a space which has been lambasted for being superficial and for creating unrealistic standards that have often led to devastating consequences. But with all the current changes, there appears to be some reprieve and, again, the beauty world finds itself in the spotlight, this time, for the right reasons. It comes in the form of the #nomakeupselfie movement which has set social media alight and consequently earning widespread praise. The…

Trade union federation Cosatu and its affiliate, the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu), have postponed a planned nationwide strike today as they continue to engage with the Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan over their concerns about the privatisation of Transnet. Last week Satawu said it had planned to hold marches in KwaZulu- Natal, Gauteng, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape, and at other Transnet depots, with the main march taking place in Durban. Gordhan and the unions started engagements on Monday which were aimed at averting a strike at the beleaguered state-owned enterprise (SOE). Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, in his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement on Wednesday, described the state entity as “inefficient and uncompetitive”, with Treasury documents revealing that the indebted SOE’s efficiencies have cost…

TRADITIONAL leaders across the country will have to consult their subjects before imposing harsh fines for refusal to pay village levies to buy the chief a car. However, in a seminal ruling this week (November 1), acting Limpopo High Court Judge President Matsaro Semenya found that customary law only allows traditional leaders to impose voluntary levies in consultation with their subjects about the need, amounts and purpose of the levies. Limpopo Premier Stanley Mathabatha and Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs MEC Basikopo Makamu were directed to publicise Judge Semenya’s orders to ensure that all traditional authorities, traditional leaders and members of traditional communities become aware of the content and effect of the ruling. The judge gave the Limpopo government one month from November 1 to submit a plan…

AMID the ongoing challenge of student debt, which burdens many hopeful students as they cling to dreams of a better tomorrow; a supportive Goodwood husband, Lucien Williams, who walked from Cape Town to George to raise funds to pay for his wife’s student debt watched with pride as she graduated recently. While the cost of tertiary education is on the rise, Universities South Africa (USAf) last noted that student debt had climbed to more than R16.5 billion with 120 000 students faced with the possibility of being unable to graduate because they owe tertiary institutions. Lucien said his wife, Washiela, who was afforded a National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) bursary for the first two years of her studies at Unisa, incurred student debt when her studies were not…

Thrift Your Life Heidi Ondrak Loot.co.za (R260) Welbeck Full of hacks and hustles to navigate those sudden changes in fortune that none of us could have predicted, this is a no-nonsense guide on how to change your habits to weather the storm, written by TikTok’s queen of budgeting, Heidi Ondrak, aka The Duchess of Thrift. Life rarely follows a linear path, sh*t happens that you could have controlled better, and then stuff happens that you have absolutely no control over whatsoever, like the current cost-of-living crisis. Full of practical hacks to adapt to life’s financial ups and downs and guaranteed to help you save every month, Heidi will show you how to nurture resilience alongside some of those cheeky life hacks that no one teaches at school. Think of it…

The Figurine Victoria Hislop Loot.co.za (R388) Headline When Helena inherits her grandparents’ flat in Athens, she is overwhelmed with memories of the summers she spent there as a child, when Greece was under a brutal military dictatorship. Her remote, cruel grandfather was one of the regime’s generals and as she sifts through the dusty rooms, Helena discovers an array of valuable objects and antiquities. How did her grandfather amass such a trove? Helena’s desire to find answers about her heritage dovetails with a growing curiosity for archaeology, ignited by a summer spent with volunteers on a dig on an Aegean island. Their finds fuel her determination to protect the precious fragments recovered from the baked earth and to understand the origins of her grandfather’s collection.…

ON OCTOBER 10 an article titled “Adherence to the UN Charter principles in their entirety and interconnection underwrite international peace and stability” by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov was published. Unfortunately, due to the volume of the article it is not possible to publish the entire material. See accompanying QR code for the full article. Instead, I will quote a few excerpts from the minister’s article and share some thoughts about what happens in the world, taking as a starting point the words from the very beginning of the mentioned article, which say that “the world is going through profound and tectonic changes”. It would be a mistake to assume that the period of turbulence began at some specific moment in the recent past:…

Hundreds more foreigners and dual nationals fled war-torn Gaza for Egypt yesterday as Israeli forces kept bombing the besieged Palestinian territory where thousands have died. Wael Abu Mohsen, spokesperson for the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing, said about 100 foreign nationals had been able to leave. A total of 400 foreign passport holders as well as 60 severely wounded Palestinians in ambulances were due to cross by the end of the day, he said, and Egyptian officials later reported the first arrivals. A list of those approved to travel yesterday shows hundreds of US citizens and 50 Belgians along with smaller numbers from various European, Arab, Asian and African countries. AFP reporters in Rafah saw cars inside the crossing point and trucks being inspected. The evacuation marks a…

Pakistan’s northwestern border crossing was flooded with thousands of people looking to cross into Afghanistan yesterday, a day after the government’s deadline expired for undocumented foreigners to leave or face expulsion. Pakistani authorities had begun rounding up undocumented foreigners, most of them Afghans, hours before Wednesday’s deadline. More than a million Afghans could have to leave or face arrest and forcible expulsion as a result of the ultimatum delivered by the Pakistan government a month ago. The Taliban-run administration in Afghanistan said temporary transit camps had been set up, and food and medical assistance would be provided, but relief agencies reported dire conditions. The Pakistan government has brushed off calls from the UN, rights groups and Western embassies to reconsider its expulsion plan, saying Afghans had been involved in militant…

Sydney: A major Australian gas export project was halted yesterday after an indigenous leader argued that an underwater pipeline was a threat to areas of cultural significance. Santos, one of Australia’s largest energy companies, plans to lay an underwater pipeline off the country’s northern coast, pumping gas from undersea wells to onshore processing plants, but Tiwi Islands’ traditional owner, Simon Munkara has won a temporary injunction to stop the project until November 13, when the court hearings resume. The conservation of Aboriginal sites has been under intense scrutiny after mining company Rio Tinto blew up the 46 000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters in 2020. | AFP…

TÜRKIYE said yesterday it had captured Hakan Ayik, a top fugitive wanted in Australia for drug smuggling, and 36 others involved in an international organised crime ring that has also been pursued by US and New Zealand authorities. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the detentions in Istanbul targeted the armed motorcycle gang Comanchero that he said was allegedly involved in drug trafficking, manslaughter, looting and money laundering globally. Dubbed the “Facebook gangster” in Australia, Ayik has been on the most wanted list in New South Wales state for more than a decade for the “supply of large commercial quantities of drugs”. The FBI has said he unwittingly helped authorities monitor and arrest hundreds of suspected criminals in recent years using an FBI-run phone app. Ayik, also known as Reis, and…

Most critics of the millennial age of the game of cricket, particularly on the batting front, point out the high-risk, high- reward factor, as it often does not come off well in game situations. It takes away from the old-school and glorified ‘patience’ factor to a batter’s game at the highest level. And when Rob Walter took over the reins as head coach of the Proteas white-ball teams, he spoke of being positive with bat in hand and using what would be regarded as the new-age style of play. To Walter’s delight, the plans have come off brilliantly, with the South African batting unit taking apart the best bowling attacks in the world. In particular, this new style has fitted the more explosive batters perfectly, including Quinton de Kock, Heinrich…