Índice para 2022-02-11 em Cape Times

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za CONCERNS have been raised that the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill in its current form discriminates against the constitutional rights of asylum seekers’ and refugees’ access to health-care services. This came to light as civic organisation, the Scalabrini Centre, made a submission to the portfolio committee on health, which continued its virtual oral public hearings on the NHI Bill this week. The objective of the NHI Bill is to provide universal access to quality health care for all South Africans as enshrined in the Constitution. It is envisioned that the NHI fund will cover “South Africans of all races, rich or poor and legal long-term residents”, with one pool of health-care funding for private and public health-care providers. The NHI will be funded from general taxes, contributions…

Siyavuya Mzantsi siyavuya.mzantsi@inl.co.za THE national state of disaster could finally be a thing of the past as the government intends to end it as soon as it has finalised other measures under the National Health Act and other legislation to contain the pandemic. “Nearly all restrictions on economic and social activity have already been lifted. Vaccines have proven to be the best defence we have against illness and death from Covid. “If we all get vaccinated, continue to observe basic health measures and remain ever-vigilant, we will be able to get on with our lives, even with the virus in our midst,” said President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) last night. He said in addition to the divides of race, geography and education, the pandemic…

Chevon Booysen chevon.booysen@inl.co.za THOUSANDS of the common platanna, also known as the African clawed frogs, have been caught and released in the Onrus River in Hermanus after residents woke to a croaking surprise yesterday. Platannas are recognised by their fully webbed hind legs and small front feet. Sheraine van Wyk, of Whale Coast Conservation, said that as the frogs are amphibious and aquatic, they had to stay in water. She said what happened yesterday was a “phenomenon” that has only occurred about three times in the past 30 years. She said it was not a breeding issue as various sizes of frog had been migrating, and an investigation was under way. “There could be a number of reasons why they have moved between water bodies and we will be investigating…

Staff writer THE investigation into the deaths of more than 1 500 Cape fur seal pups and sub-adults along the West Coast has revealed several reasons for the die-off, including moderate to severe malnutrition. The Western Cape Department of Agriculture’s State Veterinary Laboratory conducted post-mortems after the deaths, which occurred last year. Yesterday, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) said clinical signs, including convulsions seen in the video footage received, initially suggested possible biotoxin poisoning. “As a result, extensive testing for significant parasites and viruses, including distemper, as well as bacterial infections were conducted on all carcasses. The results have proven either negative, or insignificant. All results for biotoxins were also negative,” the DFFF said. “Because of the neurological signs witnessed, similar tests will be conducted…

The Unravelling Polly Crosby Loot.co.za (R240) HQ THIS is a darkly beautiful dual-timeline novel with a captivating mystery, for fans of Diane Setterfield and Kiran Millwood Hargrave. When Tartelin Brown accepts a job with the reclusive Marianne Stourbridge, she finds herself on a wild island with a mysterious history. Tartelin is tasked with hunting butterflies for Marianne’s research. But she quickly uncovers something far more intriguing than the curious creatures that inhabit the landscape. The island and Marianne share a remarkable history, and what happened all those years ago has left its scars, and some terrible secrets. As Tartelin pieces together Marianne’s connection to the island, she must confront her own reasons for being there. Can the two women finally face up to the painful memories that bind them so…

Reviewer: Julian Richfield THE FRAN LEBOWITZ READER Fran Lebowitz Loot.co.za (R284) VIRAGO FRAN Lebowitz is an American author and essayist blessed with a deliciously sardonic sense of humour whose style has been labelled acerbic and biting and that it certainly is. She is in her early seventies and her new book, The Fran Lebowitz Reader, is a collection of essays from her early twenties and thirties. The essays have been broadly grouped under Metropolitan Life and Social Studies. One line from her introduction had me nodding in agreement, weeping with laughter and eager to read on: “3.40pm – I consider getting out of bed. I reject the notion as being unduly vigorous. I read and smoke a bit more.” The Fran Lebowitz Reader essays cover a broad range of topics,…

Robben Island letters reveal sacrifices of a revolutionary who never retired I dedicate my final column as group foreign editor to my late husband, Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim, who passed away two months ago. Over the past weeks, I have spent hours reading through letters he wrote from Robben Island to his “political mother” Phyllis Naidoo that span from 1964 through to 1979, and then during his second incarceration from 1989 to 1991. He was one of the very few political prisoners to have been sentenced twice to that torturous prison colony. His stories of deprivation and struggle have evoked a sense of urgency to ensure that our next generation understands the full extent of the suffering that our Struggle stalwarts endured. We cannot let the stories die, and places like…

Monuments across Italy, from Rome’s Capitoline Hill to the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, were to go dark yesterday evening in a symbolic protest by municipal authorities against soaring electricity costs. “The increase in bills is a burden and puts families and institutions in serious difficulty,” made worse by the coronavirus pandemic, Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri said. He was to switch off the lights of the Capitoline, Rome’s town hall, for an hour from 8pm local time. In Florence, the Palazzo Vecchio, Ponte Vecchio and Palazzo Medici Riccardi were to be turned off for 30 minutes at the same time. Similar action was planned in Milan, Turin, Bologna, Pisa and elsewhere. | AFP…

WASHINGTON: A US House panel is investigating former president Donald Trump’s handling of White House records after 15 boxes of official documents were retrieved from his private Florida property in what lawmakers said was a potential serious violation of the law. House oversight panel chairperson Carolyn Maloney said yesterday that said she was “deeply concerned” the records were not promptly turned over to the National Archives when Trump’s term ended in January 2021 “and that they appear to have been removed from the White House in violation of the Presidential Records Act”. | Reuters…

A Bing Dwen Dwen is hard to find. Plush versions of the rotund, space suit-wearing panda mascot of the Beijing Winter Olympics are in short supply with fans waiting for hours, often lining up at stores before opening time, to buy the souvenir. The enthusiasm for Bing Dwen Dwen, a chubby panda wearing a space suit meant to symbolise the “strength and will power” of Olympians, has been inexplicable. Stores have limited customers to one per person. Enterprising scalpers are selling them for 10 times the asking price of about $30 (R455). The “Bing Dwen Dwen scarcity problem” will be addressed, with boosted production, promised, officials said. When a middle-aged man dressed in a suit gave an interview online this week, it caused such an uproar that clips of the…

The road meandering towards Gaza Valley is notorious for the stench of pollution choking the plant and animal life that once flourished in the Palestinian enclave’s biggest wetland. That is expected to change after the sullied habitat was declared Gaza’s first nature reserve, set for a UN-backed, decade long clean-up effort under the territory’s Hamas Islamist rulers. “The valley will return to its beautiful natural state” for local people to walk through and enjoy, said Jaber Abu Hajeer, the mayor of the area known as Wadi Gaza. The fouling of the valley with raw sewerage, wastewater and rubbish is a consequence of chronic under-development in the strip that has been blockaded by Israel since 2007. Gaza’s poor infrastructure cannot manage the waste produced by a population that has rapidly grown…

Mihlali Baleka mihlali.baleka@inl.co.za MAMELODI Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi feels that how mistakes are punished is what separates the domestic league from continental football. Sundowns have been in cruise mode in the Premiership. They are at the top of the log with 47 points, 17 ahead of the second-placed Orlando Pirates. They also reached the Nedbank Cup last-16 after beating Richards Bay 4-0 last Friday. However, they’ll turn their focus to the opening round of the CAF Champions League group stage when they host Al Hilal at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium tonight (6pm kick-off). But do not expect the Brazilians to take this match for granted, though. Firing on all cylinders in domestic football – after scoring 35 goals and conceding nine in the league – notwithstanding, Africa is a jungle.…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za | POLITICAL BUREAU AUDITOR-General Tsakani Maluleke’s office has warned that the SABC could experience negative operating cash flows until at least the next financial year and may have insufficient funds to cover its operational expenses, including salaries. In a 15-page briefing note presented to the National Assembly’s standing committee on public accounts, the A-G states that it identified various potential challenges at the public broadcaster, including continuing operating losses, which are forecast over the next three years. ”Negative operating cash flows are forecast until at least the 2022 financial year. The forecasted decreases in operating cash flows resulted in concerns that insufficient cash may be available to adequately cover the minimum forecasted operating expenses, including the salary costs,” the noted added. The note also said the…

Odwa Mkentane odwa.mkentane@inl.co.za CIVIL society made their voices heard in the CBD in the lead-up to last night’s State of the Nation Address (Sona), with demands stretching from the continuation of funding for community projects to the end of capitalism as it is in South Africa. The area surrounding the Cape Town City Hall was abuzz with journalists and various groupings, including union representatives and social advocacy groups. Members of the Cape Flats’s Walking Bus initiative were among those who demonstrated on the sidelines, after they recently threatened mass action at Sona if Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis did not respond to a list of demands. The initiative was started by mothers in gang-ridden communities to protect their children from gangsters while walking to school, but it was disbanded and funding diverted…

Marsha Dean marsha.dean@inl.co.za THEY’RE at work before the crack of dawn and long after most others have gone to bed. While waste pickers may be viewed as an irritation by some, they are making a difference to the environment. “We just want respect, we don’t bother anyone but we are constantly harassed by security guards who chase us away from the bins or tell us not to sit on the benches that are open to the public,” said Nathan Mampies, a waste picker, or waste reclaimer, who operates from the CBD. It is estimated that South Africa has at least 215 000 waste pickers, and according to the Resources, Conservation and Recycling open journal, most of the approximately 46% of plastic collected for recycling in 2018 probably came from informal…

Chevon Booysen chevon.booysen@inl.co.za THE Department of Labour has remained mum over the action to be taken against Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM) after trade unions called for the suspension of explosive activity at the ammunition manufacturing site. This while a third sitting of the section 32 inquiry into the RDM 2018 explosion, which claimed the lives of eight employees, is yet to resume. Last October, labour federation Cosatu and residents of Macassar and Somerset West picketed outside RDM where they demanded the suspension of explosive licences and activity at the site while the inquiry was still under way. Cosatu provincial secretary, Malvern de Bruyn, said no progress or feedback has been received since the memorandum was handed over. “The progress on this is very slow at the moment and there is…

Siphokazi Vuso siphokazi.vuso@inl.co.za HOUSING activists have welcomed the withdrawal of three City of Cape Town properties from auction yesterday, saying they were suitable for the development of affordable housing. Advocacy group Ndifuna Ukwazi noted that initially 17 parcels of public land owned by the City would have gone under the hammer in a live, virtual public auction, hosted by Highland Auction Company. The auction came after fierce criticism from Ndifuna Ukwazi and its social movement partner Reclaim the City, that said the City was disposing of well-located public land in exchange for a short-term cash injection. By midday yesterday, the properties were reduced following the withdrawal of two vacant properties in Mitchells Plain of 13 566m2 and 3 758m2 in size respectively, and a vacant property of 1 450m2 in…

Reviewer: Julian Richfield A QUEEN FOR ALL SEASONS Joanna Lumley Loot.co.za (R284) HODDER & STOUGHTON THERE have been many fine books written about Queen Elizabeth II, and with 2022 seeing the celebration of her Platinum Jubilee, there will likely be more published this year. In A Queen For All Seasons, to celebrate the jubilee, Joanna Lumley “brings together vivid and varied voices, present and past, from Britain, the Commonwealth and beyond to tell their own stories about the Queen and what she means to them”. As Lumley writes: “I see the Queen as a sort of mother figure for the nation, someone we turn towards when the going gets rough to see her reactions. “Her kindly and measured response to calamities settles us: to know she has sent a message…

THE recent report by an expert panel into the “insurrection” last year pointed out that the government was a threat to South Africa. Whether it be through the ANC’s failure to control internal factions, the government’s inability to run the police and intelligence services properly or dealing with the socio-economic challenges the country has faced since the dawn of democracy, and which have worsened in the past decade, the government has failed. The government has also failed South African sport. There is a ministry, an oversight entity under the parliamentary portfolio committee for sport, arts and culture, the Eminent Persons Group, which measures data about transformation, and all those elements have failed development and transformation in sport. It has been easy to beat the federations like the Olympic body Sascoc,…

ABUJA: Nigeria’s military said yesterday it has recovered millions of litres of stolen crude oil and illegally refined petrol after destroying 45 illegal refining sites in the Niger Delta. The crude oil thefts and illegal refining have caused a major headache for the oil sector in Africa’s biggest economy, which is facing fuel shortages after deliveries of gasoline containing too much methanol. The military said operations carried out in the past two weeks recovered 2.53 million litres of illegally refined petrol and 2.81 million litres of stolen crude oil. It destroyed 127 metal storage tanks and nine tankers among other equipment. | Reuters…

KYIV: Russian forces yesterday began 10 days of military exercises with Belarus, and warships arrived at a strategic port on the Black Sea, as Western diplomats seek to avert what they fear could be an invasion after preparations cloaked as training. A detachment of six ships arrived at the port of Sevastopol in Crimea, the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement, capping a 7 000-nautical-mile journey to begin what officials describe as a naval exercise. The Russian landing ships typically are used for unloading troops, vehicles and materiel onto land. Some took part in Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008. Ukrainian officials blasted the manoeuvres, calling them an “unprecedented” action that makes navigation in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov virtually impossible. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry…

LONDON: Prince Charles has tested positive for Covid-19, his office said yesterday, the second time the heir-to-the-throne has contracted the disease. “This morning the Prince of Wales has tested positive for Covid-19 and is now self-isolating,” Clarence House said, adding he had cancelled his engagements for later in the day. Charles, 73, tested positive in March 2020 and later said he had suffered only mild symptoms. On Wednesday, he attended a reception for the British Asian Trust where the other guests included finance minister Rishi Sunak and health minister Sajid Javid. | Reuters…

Russia yesterday sentenced a teenager to five years in prison for allegedly planning to blow up a virtual building of the FSB security service created in the computer game Minecraft. The ruling falls into a broader pattern under President Vladimir Putin in which young Russians are put behind bars on controversial and pre-emptive terrorism charges. A military court in Siberia sentenced 16-year-old Nikita Uvarov to five years in a penal colony on charges of “training for terrorist activities”, rights lawyer Pavel Chikov said on Telegram. Two other defendants were cleared of criminal charges and handed suspended sentences because they co-operated with investigators, Chikov added. The hearing was held behind closed doors. Uvarov and two other teenagers in the Siberian city of Kansk were detained in 2020 for spreading leaflets in…

Stuart Hess stuart.hess@inl.co.za WITH Kane Williamson out injured and Ross Taylor now retired, Devon Conway looms as the major batting threat for New Zealand in the two-match Test series against the Proteas that starts next week. Once upon a time, Conway may have been donning a green cap with a protea emblazoned on it, rather than a black one with a silver fern, but his life took a different direction, much to the benefit of the New Zealand team. Conway has played nine Test innings for his adopted nation, and on five occasions he has surpassed 50, turning three of those into hundreds, including a double century at Lord’s on debut last year. He made two hundreds in the last two Tests the Kiwis played against Bangladesh. “He’s had a…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za South Africa’s spectrum auction will finally happen within the next month after more than a decade as the government begins to embark on a widespread campaign to cut the red tape and improve the ease of doing business. President Cyril Ramaphosa last night announced a sweeping review of economic policy and regulatory framework as part of the government’s efforts to implement structural reforms. He said that the Independent Communications Authority of SA(Icasa) will be spearheading the rolling out of the spectrum to boost investment and create jobs. Spectrum has been one of the major hurdles for investment in South Africa. Delays in rolling out new spectrum auctions have been caused by fighting between Icasa and the department of communications. “The auctioning of high-demand spectrum is expected in…

Philippa Larkin philippa.larkin@inl.co.za INVICTA Holdings, the investment holding and management company, with Steven Joffe at the helm, yesterday disclosed that it had handsomely rewarded its top executives with millions of rand in share incentive rights (LBSIRs). This follows the firm’s return to a better financial footing after reducing its overheads, and debt burden. Chief executive Joffe scored share incentive rights valued at R7 595 182, with 616 082 LBSIRs in respect of ordinary Invicta shares, which would vest after three years, subject to performance conditions Craig Barnard, an executive director and commercial director at Invicta, received share incentive rights worth R2 925 556, with 237 306 LBSIRs, while executive director Gavin Pelser was granted 344 941 LBSIRs, worth R4 252 502. Financial director and executive director Nazlee Rajmohamed got 223…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za TRADERS who had to sacrifice two or more days of usual business because of the State of the Nation Address (Sona) are expecting to resume operations at the Grand Parade today. The event, held at the historic Cape Town City Hall, has not only inconvenienced motorists who had to take longer routes around the CBD owing to road closures, but also business for some informal traders with stalls near the hall. The SA Informal Traders Alliance (Saita) said the initial proposal was that trading operations would return fully without disruptions after February 16. “We had extensive consultations with the national Parliament officials and the City ahead of time. A proposal was made by Parliament that informal traders don’t operate for about eight days but an exception would…

Marsha Dean and Francesca Villette AFTER much anticipation, the Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD), which has provided support to more than 10 million unemployed South Africans, will officially be extended for another year until March 2023. In his State of the Nation Address (Sona) last night, President Cyril Ramaphosa said a fiscal crisis would hurt the poor most of all through the deterioration of the basic services on which they relied. “Mindful of the proven benefits of the grant, we will extend the R350 SRD Grant for one further year, to the end of March 2023. “During this time, we will engage in broad consultations and detailed technical work to identify the best options to replace this grant. Any future support must pass the test of affordability, and must…

Staff writer ALMOST two years after Africa identified its first case of Covid-19 on February 14 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) says if current trends continue, the continent could control the pandemic in 2022. The continent has witnessed four Covid-19 waves, each with higher peaks or more total new cases than the previous one. The surges have been mostly driven by new variants of the Sars-CoV-2 virus – which were highly transmissible though not necessarily more fatal than prior waves. WHO Africa noted that each subsequent wave triggered a response that was more effective than the previous, with each surge shorter by 23% on average from the one before. “Over the past two years, the African continent has gotten smarter, faster and better at responding to each new surge…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za LOCAL anglers have expressed frustration over the dilapidated toilets along the beaches off Baden Powell Drive, which have been unusable for years. This while the City has set aside R3 million on a project to restore and maintain Cape Town’s iconic Muizenberg huts. In 2014, anglers protested against the lack of safety, council neglect and run-down facilities along the stretch of beaches, when then mayor Patricia De Lille visited the precinct to promote a beach safety campaign. In 2019 the City committed to upgrading the coastal infrastructure at Fisherman’s Lane at Strandfontein on the False Bay coastline. The project was scheduled to be completed by November 2021, but it has not yet started. Andre Arendse, an angler and resident of Bayview, said fixing and maintaining the ablution…

Cry Wolf Hans Rosenfeldt Loot.co.za (R230) HarperCollins FROM the multi-award-winning author of The Bridge comes a blockbuster new thriller. Hannah Wester, a detective in the remote northern Swedish town of Haparanda, finds herself on the precipice of chaos. When human remains are found in the stomach of a dead wolf, Hannah knows that this summer won’t be like any other. The remains are soon linked to a bloody drug deal that went down just across the border in Finland. How did the victim end up in the woods outside Haparanda? Where have the drugs and money gone? Hannah and her colleagues are soon caught up in a complex investigation. But time is scarce and they aren’t the only ones looking. When the secretive and deadly Katja shows up, unexpected and…

The Washington Post Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutor’s Fight for Fairness Laura Coates Loot.co.za (R491) Simon & Schuster WHEN Laura Coates was a federal prosecutor, she learnt that the victim in a car theft case she was prosecuting had an outstanding immigration warrant. He had illegally crossed the border at 16, but in the 20 years since then had worked, started a family and lived a law-abiding life. Coates was instructed by her superiors to have the witness come in as planned for the trial, but, instead of testifying, he would be arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Coates was conflicted. Her obligations as prosecutor required her to do as instructed. However, her personal morality pushed in the opposite direction. It felt as though she was luring an unsuspecting…

IN THE past, a traitor was defined as a person who sold his own people to the oppressors, the white-minority apartheid regime. However, things have changed with the times; now we have a new enemy, an enemy from within, the corrupt who “eat” the money meant for the poor and traitors who sold us to the Gupta family. These traitors portray themselves as believers in radical economic transformation (RET). They betrayed the poor and the downtrodden by selling the country to a foreign family. They gave the Gupta family power to run the country, and they became security, gatekeepers, and door openers for it. In the process, the Guptas gave orders on how to run the government. They had the audacity of saying the only person they “respect” is No…

Africa is transitioning out of the pandemic phase of the Covid-19 outbreak and moving towards a situation where it will be managing the virus over the long term, the head of the World Health Organization in Africa said yesterday. “I believe that we are transitioning from the pandemic phase and we will now need to manage the presence of this virus in the long term,” Dr Matshidiso Moeti told a regular online media briefing. “The pandemic is moving into a different phase … We think that we’re moving now, especially with the vaccination expected to increase, into what might become a kind of endemic living with the virus,” she said. | Reuters…

Kampala: Uganda protested yesterday at an order by the UN’s highest court for it to pay the Democratic Republic of Congo $325 million in damages over a brutal war two decades ago. The payment fell far short of the $11 billion in reparations demanded by Kinshasa over a conflict that is believed to have killed hundreds of thousands of people. “Uganda ... considers the judgment unfair and wrong, just as the previous 2005 judgment on liability was unfair and wrong,” Uganda’s foreign ministry said. “Uganda regrets that this decision comes at a time when the two countries are continuing to strengthen their relations.” | AFP…

Twelve people were injured at Saudi Arabia’s Abha airport by shrapnel from a drone intercepted by air defences yesterday, the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group said. Air traffic operations returned to normal after standard safety procedures were carried out, the coalition said. The injured included travellers and workers of various nationalities, it said in two statements carried by state media. The Houthis often target Abha airport, which lies close to the Yemeni border in Saudi Arabia’s south, and other parts of the country with drones and missiles. Most are intercepted but a few people have been killed and several injured. The coalition regularly carries out air strikes on what it says are Houthi military targets in Yemen. The United Arab Emirates, a coalition member, twice in January said…

ROME: Former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi protested his innocence yesterday after prosecutors called for him to stand trial for alleged illegal political party funding. Renzi, a former mayor of Florence, accused three prosecutors in the Tuscan city of abusing their power during their probe, which has dragged on for years and which he said would “draw a blank”. “I am innocent and I hope the judges are too,” the 47-year-old, who was premier from 2014 to 2016, told Radio Leopolda. A pre-trial hearing has been set for April 4, and a judge will decide whether there is enough evidence to proceed to a full trial. The probe, which began in 2019, followed allegations that money from the Open foundation was illegally used by Renzi in his meteoric rise from…