Table of contents for 2021-06-11 in Cape Times

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za AS THE GOVERNMENT prepares to launch a Steel Master Plan to improve the competitiveness of the industry, downstream fabricators and manufacturers have called for the relaxation of tariffs to help them stay afloat. Marketing manager at Duferco Steel Processing, Nico Van Wyk, said for the industry to become competitive, the downstream suppliers had to be the focus of the government’s efforts to revive it. Van Wyk said the 18 percent duties on hot rolled coils steel was squeezing the downstream steel sector. He said Duferco, which competes with South Africa’s primary steel producer ArcelorMittal SA (Amsa), relies on hot rolled coil imports to sustain its export market. “The government does allow us to import hot roll coils, convert them, and export them without paying duties,” Van Wyk…

SUPER Group expects headline earnings a share to between 248 to 303 cents for the year to June 30, 2021, representing an increase of 64 to 100 percent over the previous year, the group said in a trading update yesterday. Revenue was expected to be R36.8 billion to R43.8 billion, an increase of 6.4 to 26.5 percent over the previous year. Operating profit was expected to increase by between 20.8 to 46.5 percent. Revenue reflected strong sales performances in Fleet Solutions and Dealerships UK in particular. The historically underperforming South African consumer and convenience businesses and the European supply chain operations continue to show significant financial improvement. Cash generated from operations had been good. All capital projects that were delayed as a result of the lockdowns in South Africa…

THE INDONESIAN, South African and Mexican finance ministers expressed support yesterday for an overhaul of international tax rules to make companies pay their fair share in a more globalised and digitalised business world. In a joint article with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, Indonesia’s Sri Mulyani Indrawati, South Africa’s Tito Mboweni and Mexico’s Arturo Herrera Gutierrez endorsed changes proposed by the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies. G7 finance ministers agreed on Saturday on a system to make multinational companies pay more tax in countries where they operate, alongside a minimum global corporate tax rate of at least 15 percent. “This year, nations have a historic opportunity to end the race to the bottom in corporate taxation, restoring government resources at a time…

Baldwin Ndaba baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za MORE than 9% of the 32.6% unemployed people in the country are university graduates, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Cabinet revealed yesterday, following their meeting on Wednesday. This was revealed by the acting Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, who expressed concern about the almost 1.5 million unemployed graduates, saying the Cabinet has described it as “worrisome”. Ntshavheni made the comments following the release of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS ) this week, which revealed the number of unemployed people during the first quarter of the year remained at 15 million. “The number of discouraged work-seekers increased by 201 000 (6.9%) between the two quarters, with a net increase of 164 000 in the not economically active population,” Ntshavheni said. She said these minor changes resulted in the…

Okuhle Hlati and Odwa Mkentane TOKAI resident Arthur McKeyn believes his guava and pomegranate trees are being poisoned by residents who don’t want homeless people in the area. McKeyn, 75, allowed homeless people to pick the fruits on his property, but said residents have even torn down posters he erected – warning the homeless about the potential of poisoning. “My main concern is the danger for children, passers-by and general workers in the area, who regularly avail themselves. “Before the tree was poisoned, a resident approached me claiming it was attracting the wrong type of people in the suburb. “When I asked if he was talking about black people he just laughed. His response was to ask if I have seen white children coming to pick up fruit. The next…

zanele Mvana zanele.mvana@inl.co.za TWO pupils from the International School of Cape Town have been selected as Cartoon Network Climate Change Champions, giving them the tools to take action and fight against climate change. The campaign sets out to inspire children to take on small challenges that can make a world of difference to the health of the planet. Buhle Grinker-Easton and Jonathan Main were among four children from the African continent to have been selected. For Buhle, 12, her passion for the environment started at a tender age when she saw people littering. “Climate change is a long-term change in the average weather patterns on Earth. It is a global problem. As the environment changes it is expected to result in poor air quality, an increase in waterborne diseases, more…

THANDISIZWE MGUDLWA AT THE height of the international Struggle against apartheid in the 1980s, a top US government aid and friend of President Ronald Reagan asked the US leader: “Hey Ron. Are you gonna help all the Blacks in South Africa?” Reagan said: “Why would I? I don’t even help them here.” Whether the above episode took place for real or not is not the objective of this chronicle. It probably didn’t happen as it was shared on stage by an African-American comedian some time back. But rather the point is to illustrate the danger of the dependency syndrome associated with African countries at the expense of entrepreneurship as a vehicle for upward social mobility. The inequalities that have escalated over the past 70 plus years across the globe leave…

ON YOUTH Day and during Youth Month, it has become easy to mention the many students and young South Africans who mobilised across the country on June 16, 1976. It has become even easier to talk about the hundreds murdered and thousands injured. However, what we seldom spend time on is the “why” of it all. Why were they unsettled, disturbed and unhappy? What made each student peacefully step out that day and the days that followed? And what made them finally decide that enough was enough? In searching for answers, we almost instinctively allude to the Bantu Education Act of 1953, which brought the education of black people under the control of the apartheid government, as well as the Extension of the University Education Act 45 of 1959 whereby…

Xanthea Limberg | Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Waste, City of Cape Town THE letter, “How accurate is the billing of municipal accounts in light of the current rash of exorbitant increases?” May 10, refers. The City’s billing system is sound and accurate and is annually audited by the auditor-general’s office. A sudden jump in usage is most often due to an undetected leak on the property. In terms of the water by-law, residents are responsible for ensuring plumbing on their property does not run to waste, and are liable for the cost of water lost through the leak. To assist residents who were not aware of this responsibility, the City has a one-time rebate for those whose accounts have been affected by an undetected leak. Residents…

Athandile Siyo athandile.siyo@inl.co.za POLICE are yet to make arrests in the murder of 78-year-old Nontsikelelo Ndlebe whose burnt body was found inside her home in Lingelethu West by her daughter on Saturday. This is according to cluster commander Vincent Beaton, who yesterday said police were following up on leads and awaiting forensic results to assist in bringing the perpetrators to book. “We are all very concerned and I can say that at this stage we have obtained some evidence. We have appointed a sergeant who will deal with this case. I can’t divulge much but it is possible that the suspect or suspects knew the layout of the house,” he said. Beaton was speaking at a briefing attended by the Khayelitsha Development Forum (KDF), community leaders, MPs Noko Masipa, Bheki…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za A Brackenfell teenager’s quick reaction thwarted would-be kidnappers who attempted to drag the 14-year-old, who was walking home from school, into their vehicle. At about 3.15pm on Tuesday, a blue Volkswagen Polo with three men allegedly stopped next to the pupil in Paradys Street, Brackenfell, said spokesperson FC van Wyk. “They spoke to her in Afrikaans and asked if she knew where Green Point was. The front passenger allegedly got out of the Polo and tried to grab the girl, but she was too quick and ran in the opposite direction,” said Van Wyk. While running for her safety, the learner saw a delivery vehicle and stopped it to ask for help while the blue Polo, with an unknown registration number, fled the scene. The man who…

Reviewer: Orielle Berry CURRIED Cariema Isaacs Loot.co.za (R260) Penguin Random House COOKERY books are often so much more than a collection of recipes… in the best there are narratives involved, a giveaway of the author’s own character and tales of travels and friends. There’s a sense of warmth and sharing even between the pages and during these tough times; that’s just what we all need. Isaacs’s book offers a compendium of recipes, ideas and a plethora of information. While the author was born in South Africa and gleaned much of her information and experience from her Ouma – her father’s mother – where she stole with her eyes, her sense of smell, taste and touch, she has travelled extensively and currently works in Dubai where she continues dreaming…

| Orielle Berry Magenge – We Need to Talk Melusi Tshabalala Loot.co.za (R224) Melinda Ferguson Books THIS is bestselling author Melusi Tshabalala's frank and fearless call to black men to open up, to talk more, listen more and to find it within themselves to change. Tshabalala – father, self-appointed educator, entrepreneur and writer of Melusi’s Everyday Zulu – runs the popular Melusi’s Everyday Zulu franchise which includes a popular column in Finweek. He has a feature 0n KayaFM and also offers online Zulu lessons drawn from his debut book. So he’s well qualified to engage and ask questions and draw honest answers. The book is built around a series of conversations he’s been having with his male friends, his “Magenge”, over the years. These round-table conversations, as he says,…

Mark Keohane It seems inconceivable that Caster Semenya will not be at the summer Olympics in Japan next month, but on this occasion perhaps the gods of humanity and kindness are finally smiling on her in ensuring she doesn’t make it to Tokyo and suffer the indignity of being embarrassed in an event that ordinarily would not be on her radar. Semenya’s only hope of getting to Tokyo is in the 5 000m, but her fastest time is 17 seconds off the Olympic qualifying time and 86 seconds off the world record, which is as good as a lifetime away. Semenya is South Africa’s most decorated Olympian and when I think of Olympic Games in the context of South Africa, I think of Caster and the South African swimming dream…

Twelve people were killed when a Myanmar military plane carrying a senior monk and several donors to a religious event crashed in the country, a junta spokesperson said yesterday. The plane, carrying six crew and eight passengers, crashed shortly before it was due to land in the city of Pyin Oo Lwin, spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said, blaming “bad weather”. Footage broadcast by media showed wreckage strewn around the twisted body of a plane lying on open ground near overhead pylons, and a small plume of smoke billowing upwards. Emergency responders were able to rescue a boy and a sergeant from the plane’s crew. They were sent to a military hospital. Kavisara, a prominent monk from the Zay Kone monastery near the capital Naypyidaw, and seven donors had been…

Thousands of demonstrators marched in Greece yesterday as a 24-hour nationwide strike against a new labour reform shut down transport and public services. Over 16 000 people took part in separate demonstrations in Athens organised by unions and opposition parties, police said, with leftist, socialist and communist party leaders also attending the rallies. “No matter what the government does, this bill is condemned by workers,” Dimitris Koutsoumbas, head of the communist KKE party, said. “It belongs in the trash heap,” Koutsoumbas Another 10 000 marched in Thessaloniki, and protests were held in other major Greek cities. Critics have labelled the reform, which promotes working hour flexibility, “modern-day slavery”. “Hands off the 8-hour (working day),” read a banner carried by pro-communist protesters in the capital. “Slavery is not progress,” said another.…

MELBOURNE: AUSTRALIANS across the east of the country woke yesterday to wild, frosty conditions, with flash flooding causing at least one fatality, while large snow dumps fell across neighbouring New South Wales. Cold air from the Antarctic dropped temperatures in Sydney to just 10°C, a 37-year record. A subsequent low pressure weather system brought flooding in some areas, leading to at least one fatality in Victoria state. Authorities urged 26 000 residents in the town of Traralgon, west of Melbourne, to evacuate. Police reported they had found the body of a man in a vehicle submerged in flood waters.…

La Paz: Two lawmakers traded punches in Bolivia’s Plurinational Legislative Assembly amid an intense debate about the detention of Jeanine Áñez, who led the coup government that overthrew democratically elected president Evo Morales in 2019 and was herself arrested in March. Bolivian senators gathered on Tuesday to review the circumstances leading up to Áñez’s March 2021 arrest on charges of terrorism, sedition and conspiracy. Before being ousted in an October 2020 election, Áñez had ruled the country for 11 months, coming to power in the vacuum created by Morales’ sudden departure from Bolivia amid threats against him.…

THE “proposed new dawn” got off to an ideal start for Bafana Bafana. The South Africans who are turning a new leaf with a youthful selection came from behind to beat Uganda 3-2 in an international friendly at Orlando Stadium yesterday. The new Bafana coach Hugo Broos had to go back home to get his second jab of the Covid-19 vaccine, with assistants Cedomir Janevski and Helman Mkhalele overseeing Bafana’s clash against Uganda. Bafana’s build-up plans this week hit a snag though. Senior players including Percy Tau and assistant coach Janevski were ruled out of the match after testing positive for Covid-19. That meant Mkhalele had to hold the fort in the dugout. The latter’s approach was quite bizarre, starting with six defenders. Mkhalele’s starting line-up, which included seven…

Steinhoff Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Steinhoff International Holdings, said yesterday that it expected headline earnings per ordinary share for the six months to March 31 to be 4 600 to 5 400 cents compared to the headline loss per share of 23 716.3c in the previous period. Earnings per ordinary share were expected to be between 4 500 and 5 000c per share compared to the loss per ordinary share of 24 187.2c in the previous corresponding period. Steinhoff Investments financial results for the six months ended March 31 this year are expected to be released on or about June 18. |…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za MULTICHOICE Group (MCG) added 1.4 million 90-day active subscribers in the year to March 31, a 7 percent growth year-on-year, while earnings growth was robust, despite the pandemic. In a year that required careful navigation of Covid-19-related challenges, the group ended the year with 20.9 million subscribers – 57 percent in rest of Africa and 43 percent of them in South Africa. Growth rates improved because of better consumer demand, continued penetration of the mass market, and the easing of electricity shortages in Southern Africa, the group said in its results yesterday. Revenue increased 4 percent to R53.4 billion, with subscription revenues accounting for R44.7bn. The dividend was held at 565 cents. Core headline earnings, the board’s measure of performance, was up 32 percent at R3.3bn.…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za SOUTH Africa has entered the much-feared third wave of Covid-19 infections, recording more than 9 000 new cases and 100 deaths over the past 24 hours. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said the national 7-day moving average incidence (5 959 cases) exceeded the new wave threshold as defined by the Ministerial Advisory Committee. The committee advisory defined the new wave 7-day moving average threshold as 30% of the peak incidence of the previous wave. The latest data shows that the country recorded 9 149 new infections, bringing the total number of active cases to 71 617. The death toll now stands at 54 710, after 100 more were recorded yesterday. The majority of new cases were from Gauteng (61%), followed…

Staff writer WITH upgrades to several netball facilities, the province is not only ready to host the Netball World Cup 2023, but it’s also developing the code as a professional and recreational activity for generations to come. Since the end of May, funds have gone into upgrading netball facilities, including on May 25 when the West Coast District received R2.1 million to support the code with needed equipment. The Swartland municipality received R600 000 to upgrade the Chatsworth Sports Ground and about R382 700 for fencing the already upgraded courts in Darling and Kalbaskraal. The Bergrivier Municipality received R300 000 for upgrading the existing netball courts in Rhino Park in Piketberg, and the Matzikama Municipality will receive R800 000 to upgrade the netball courts at…

Bill Constantine | Oranjezicht I AM a daily subscriber of the Cape Times and an avid reader of its content, including the letters section. It’s very gratifying to me that Cape Times readers have enough interest in local, national and international news and events, plus the different features published in the paper, to offer their personal comments and opinions via letters to the editor. I always read each published letter and I’ve found that generally, most are reasonably well-crafted, get to the point and make good sense. But some, clearly, do not. I refer to Farouk Araie’s letter, “Nature’s revenge on humankind’s destruction”, Cape Times, June 7. In his letter, reader Araie fires a shotgun volley aimed at several of the world’s ills, including the global sales of…

AS THE the leaders of the supposed seventh largest advanced economies converge today on the Cornish resort of Carbis Bay for the 47th Group of Seven (G7) summit on June 11 to 13, the question that sticks like the local clotted cream: “Isn’t it time that the world got rid of this disruptive anachronism?” The G7, which held its first summit in 1975, resembles more a colonial club comprising six “white” nations including the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany and Italy and the odd one out, Japan. As an organisation it is well past its shelf life and sell-by-date. Even ex-President Donald Trump, a committed isolationist, called it a “very outdated group of countries”. Yet the history of the G7 countries bears testimony to the centuries-old destruction and plunder they…

Chevon Booysen chevon.booysen@inl.co.za A CONVICTED repeat robbery and housebreaking offender will now serve an eight-year prison sentence instead of 12 years after he successfully appealed against his sentence in the Western Cape High Court. Peter Klaasen, whose sentence was minimised after it was ordered to run concurrently, was charged with three counts in the Stellenbosch Regional Court. The charges were housebreaking with the intent to steal and theft, robbery with aggravating circumstances, and common assault. The assault charge was later withdrawn against Klaasen and he was subsequently sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for theft and eight years for robbery with aggravating circumstances. According to court documents, Klaasen, who was homeless, had entered a Stellenbosch flat when the door was open during 2017, and stolen a jacket “The State alleged that…

Athandile Siyo athandile.siyo@inl.co.za SHELTERS for the homeless are working with the provincial Departments of Social Development and Health in ensuring that the people in their care and on the streets are vaccinated as soon as possible. This, as the country is currently busy with phase 2 of the vaccination roll-out, which is directed at people over 60. The Haven Night Shelter chief executive Hassan Khan said that homeless people who were currently in shelters are being registered and receiving vaccinations. “We are awaiting directions on how to deal with undocumented possible applicants. Shelters do assist with acquiring ID documents as part of their service offering.” The Department of Health said that vaccinating homeless was managed on an individual basis by shelters. Spokesperson Mark van der Heever said: “As part of…

Thabo Makwakwa thabo.makwakwa@inl.co.za ESKOM appears to be backtracking on its claims that evidence of corruption had led to it setting aside a multibillion-rand fuel supplier contract with a black female-owned company. This emerged at the South Gauteng High Court this week where a long and bruising battle between Eskom and giant fuel supplier Econ Oil and Energy, is playing out. Eskom lawyers advocate Wim Trengove SC, Carol Steinberg SC and Michael Mbikiwa SC want the court to review and set aside the multibillion-rand contract. Trengove and his team argued that the entity’s tender was irregular on the basis that it violated procurement rules. But in an unexpected twist, Trengove’s main ground of argument was that the entity’s procurement team was incompetent, rather than corrupt, as was previously lamented by the…

THE PRESIDENT’S DAUGHTER Bill Clinton and James Patterson Loot.co.za (R523) LITTLE, BROWN AND KNOPF OVER the past three years, Bill Clinton and James Patterson have developed a bankable formula: In their previous thriller, a US president went missing. In their new thriller, a president's daughter goes missing. Readers expecting a sequel, though, will discover that the new novel offers an entirely different cast of characters. The President Is Missing gave us President Jonathan Lincoln Duncan, a former Gulf War hero who battles a dastardly terrorist. But The President's Daughter gives us President Matthew Keating, a former Navy Seal hero who battles a dastardly terrorist. It's a change as startling as the shift from tan to beige. With this brave and monogamous hero, Clinton has once again revealed such a naked…

President Cyril Ramaphosa is participating in the G7 Leaders Summit in the UK, which starts today, with two overarching priorities – to shore up investment in South Africa and to canvass G7 nations to support the temporary waiver of Intellectual Property Rights at the World Trade Organisation to ensure equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines. Ramaphosa was invited alongside the heads of state of India, Australia and South Korea. The president has said that South Africa was invited to the G7 summit because the G7 countries acknowledged the country’s role in driving the continental response to Covid-19. The global recovery from Covid-19 is likely to dominate the agenda, as well as the urgency in tackling climate change. South Africa and India have led the charge for a temporary waiver of intellectual…

IT would seem that come hell or high water, the Games of the 32nd Olympiad will take place in Tokyo from July 23. It will be a Games like no other. The build-up has been one like no other, with the pre-Games torch relay, a crucial marketing event ahead of the Olympics, postponed on a number of occasions because of the Covid-19 pandemic in Japan. Public polls suggest that the country’s citizens are very strongly opposed to hosting the Olympics this year, as Japan has struggled to manage the pandemic, while its vaccine roll-out has been sluggish. But the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which has billions of dollars on the line, are forging ahead. The United States and China are sending teams, and that will be enough to ensure success…

An analysis by UN agencies and aid groups estimates that about 350 000 people in Ethiopia’s conflict-torn Tigray region are in famine conditions, according to an internal UN document seen this week. The Ethiopian government disputes the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, according to the notes of a meeting on the situation in Tigray of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee – made up of the heads of 18 UN and non-UN organisations. “On the risk of famine … figures were being disputed by the Ethiopian government, notably the estimated 350 000 people across Tigray believed to be in IPC 5 famine conditions,” the June 7 document read. The analysis, which diplomats said could be released publicly yesterday, had found that millions more across Tigray required “urgent food and…

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis rejected German Cardinal Reinhard Marx’s offer to resign as archbishop of Munich over the Church’s sexual abuse crisis, a letter released by the Vatican on Thursday showed. Marx offered to resign earlier this month, saying he had to share responsibility for the “catastrophe” of sexual abuse by clerics over past decades. Francis said he understood the motivation behind Marx’s offer to resign, but would not accept it. “That is my answer, dear Brother. Continue as you suggest, but as Archbishop of Munich,” Francis said.…

BANGUI: A Frenchman who was arrested in the Central African Republic (CAR) after an arsenal of weapons was discovered in his home has been charged with espionage and conspiracy, nearly a month after his arrest, international news channel Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday. It said Juan Remy Quignolot, who claimed to be a journalist, was detained in the capital Bangui on May 10 after police found weapons, military fatigues and foreign banknotes at his residence, According to sources, the 55-year-old man had worked as a bodyguard for several organisations in the CAR, which is fighting an armed rebellion against the government.…

SEOUL: South Korean lawmakers are pushing for reform to reduce the military’s judicial power after a female soldier who had suffered sexual abuse committed suicide, rekindling criticism of the military’s handling of sex crimes. An air force master sergeant, identified by her surname Lee, took her life last month after being molested by a colleague. Her family said she had reported the case and sought help, but the air force only tried to cover up the assault and bully and silence her. Air force chief Lee Seong-yong resigned last week, taking responsibility for Lee’s death.…

Stuart Hess stuart.hess@inl.co.za CRICKET SA’s Annual General Meeting will be taking place tomorrow, ushering in a new era for the organisation and possibly South African sport in general. The AGM will hopefully see the appointment of a new Board of Directors, the majority of whom will be independent - from outside of Cricket SA’s current administrative or operational circles. Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa, who appointed an Interim Board of Directors last October as CSA’s administration went into meltdown, held a final meeting with the Interim Board and CSA’s Members Council - the body comprising the 14 provincial union presidents - on Wednesday evening. Mthethwa’s office stated that the purpose of the meeting was to ensure that all the necessary promises made would be kept and that unlike the special General Meeting…

herman.gibbs@inl.co.za THE Premier Soccer League (PSL) have brought football into disrepute by undermining the independence of its own judicial tribunal when it challenged the decision to award Sekhukhune United three points after Polokwane City were found guilty of contravening the rules of the GladAfrica Championship. Instead of accepting the outcome, the PSL executive decided to challenge the decision by saying "it is the view of the League that it is not correct". This bewildering statement raised eyebrows in the football fraternity. The GladAfrica Championship ended just over a week ago, but the winners were not declared. Initially, the PSL disciplinary committee found Polokwane had contravened the competition rules against Sekhukhune. Polokwane were found guilty. It did not award the match points to Sekhukhune, who later appealed. The PSL…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday announced that independent power producers (IPPs) would now be allowed to generate up to 100 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Ramaphosa said the government approved the amendment of Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act for the energy sector, increasing the licensing threshold for embedded generation projects from 1MW to 100MW. The business industry has been calling for the government to increase the threshold on embedded power generation from 1MW to 50MW. North West Business School economist Professor Raymond Parsons said while the intervention would not offer immediate relief with load-shedding, it would help to lay a solid foundation for future power security. “The government now recognises the extent to which the failure of Eskom to guarantee electricity supply has posed the most…

UNION leaders at state-owned South African freight logistics group Transnet said they planned to pursue a strike after their members rejected a 4 percent across-the-board wage hike offer. The United National Transport Union (Untu) and the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) said their members had rejected the offer, which was one percentage point higher than Transnet had put on the table. “We have just sent communication now to the bargaining council to say we’ve had quite a bit of response and the response was to reject the offer,” John Pereira, a deputy general-secretary of Untu, said yesterday. “Both unions have rejected the mediator’s recommendation of 4 percent and the unions want one thing only and that is a certificate to strike,” said Jack Mazibuko, the…

Siyabonga Mkhwanazi siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za Cosatu and certain political parties have welcomed the decision by President Cyril Ramaphosa to increase the cap for embedded generation from 1MW to 100MW in a bid to stem load shedding in the country. This decision comes amid rolling blackouts by Eskom. The lifting of the licensing restrictions to generation projects by the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) would help boost the ailing economy. The economy shrank by 7% last year and the latest figures by Statistics SA this week showed it grew by 4.6% on an annualised basis. Businesses have been complaining about the impact load shedding has on their balance sheet, with billions lost. Parliamentary co-ordinator for Cosatu, Matthew Parks said this would boost investments and stifle job losses. “The lack of reliable and…

Staff writer GLOBALLY most mental health care continues to be provided in psychiatric hospitals. Human rights abuses and coercive practices remain too common. But providing community-based mental health care that is respectful of human rights and focused on recovery is proving successful and cost-effective, according to new guidance released yesterday by the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO’s new “Guidance on community mental health services: promoting person-centred and rights-based approaches” finds that mental health care must be grounded in a human rights-based approach. According to its latest estimates, governments spend less than 2% of their health budgets on mental health. The majority of reported expenditure on mental health is allocated to psychiatric hospitals, except in high-income countries where the figure is about 43%, the WHO noted. The new guidance, which is…

OWN Correspondent IN MAY 2013, marine biologists were stunned by the news of the first sighting of a grey whale south of the equator, just off the coast of Namibia in Walvis Bay. Could this whale reflect a remnant of an Atlantic population long thought to be extinct – the last sighting by whalers apparently in the 1740s – or the start of a new population there? Now a team of researchers from Durham University in England and Stellenbosch University have conclusively identified the lone male grey whale’s birthplace as the North Pacific. Their findings were published in the journal Biology Letters on Wednesday. While grey whales are well known for performing the world’s longest migrations, this Namibian grey whale broke every record in the book, travelling an estimated 27…

Barbie Sandler | Constantia THE article on the little three-year old rape victim had me near tears (Cape Times, June 2). There were so many things in the article that are wrong with our country. Firstly, she was raped by her alleged grandfather aged 36. Secondly, her mother lives in the Eastern Cape. Why can her little child not be with her? The aunt who is looking after the child said, and I quote from the article, “this child is a girl, we feed her so she must pay for being fed.” Can one believe a woman would say this of a little three-year-old? If true one hopes the authorities take this little girl away from the aunt and let’s hope the grandfather, if he is the perpetrator,…

Bill Harding | Noordhoek YET again we are bombarded by one of your reporters seizing the opportunity to denigrate the DA. I refer to Chevon Booysen’s headline article on the front page in Tuesday’s edition. She seems to be on a destructive campaign aimed at consistently portraying the DA in a poor light. Does she, and others on your staff, not accept that the Western Cape is the most efficiently run province in South Africa? The others, all under ANC control, are proving over and over again to be inefficient, corrupt, hopelessly insolvent and incapable of running their affairs. Please, could we have some balanced reporting. After all, your front page logo says “Independent CT”.…

Chevon Booysen chevon.booysen@inl.co.za WITH 412 murders in three policing precincts in 13 months and zero convictions for these crimes, the provincial Community Policing Forum (CPF) has called on the SAPS to build watertight cases against perpetrators who “roam freely”. Answering parliamentary questions last month, MEC for Community Safety Albert Fritz said that 232 murders were reported at Delft Police Station between March 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021 – 34 of them gang-related. At Mitchells Plain Police Station, 107 murders were reported, with 65 of them suspected to have been gang-linked, while at Philippi Police Station 73 murders are being investigated for the same period, 44 of which are suspected to be gang-related. Provincial CPF spokesperson Fransina Lukas said these were shocking figures. “These are very worrying to our communities…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za UCT students have complained about being crammed in overcrowded Jammie Shuttles and writing in exam venues with inadequate ventilation. The students took to social media to share their grievances with a picture showing a number of students standing in the full shuttle. SRC president Declan Dyer said the image posted was not fake or old. “We’ve heard complaints from students that it was the case in a few Jammies right before and after tests, but it is being addressed. Over the past couple of weeks we have been engaging with the executive and other relevant committees regarding a number of issues including personal assessments. “We raised a few concerns also about exam venues and this was also backed up by data after a survey was conducted by…

THE BISCUIT Lizzie Collingham Loot.co.za (R363) THE BODLEY HEAD THE Biscuit by Lizzie Collingham is a delightful and unusual food book of a very special kind. The humble biscuit. Many may categorise it as ordinary or even “everyday”, but its history and variety of forms and styles certainly elevate biscuit from those descriptors. The Biscuit, at its core, is a social history full of anecdotes. There are also a number of recipes and some gorgeous illustrations and historical photos. ‘’No other nation buys and eats more biscuits than the British. They develop their biscuit preferences early and tend to favour those that evoke nostalgic childhood memories. Often, they offer emotional rather than nutritional sustenance.’’ Surprisingly, the British norm of a “biscuit and a cuppa” only came to be after the…

Nyaniso Qwesha | Wynberg QUESTIONS by former president Thabo Mbeki still resonate today: “We want an Africa that is free from poverty. What kind of leader will create an end to poverty? We want an Africa driven by women’s emancipation. Where is this leadership, how do we create it? We want an Africa that is free from corruption. How do you produce this leadership that is not corrupt?” There are no easy answers, but these are the questions that need to be answered by every one of us to see a growing country. It is more relevant now with our country’s current predicament, primarily when we critically investigate challenges faced by our government. One would look widely at some of the events that are facing our leaders. The Digital…

Geneva: The world has marked the first rise in child labour in two decades and the coronavirus crisis threatens to push millions more youngsters toward the same fate, the UN said yesterday. In a joint report, the International Labour Organization and the UN children’s agency Unicef said the number in child labour stood at 160 million at the start of 2020 – an increase of 8.4 million in four years. The hike began before the pandemic hit and marks a dramatic reversal of a downward trend that had seen child labour numbers shrink by 94 million between year 2000 and 2016, it said. Just as the Covid-19 crisis was beginning to pick up steam, nearly one in 10 children globally were stuck in child labour, with…

THE government and people of Liberia are expected to benefit from $20 billion (about R272bn) bilateral engagement for the development of a rail corridor to transport Guinean mining products via Liberia’s port infrastructure. An official Guinean government is in Monrovia for an international ministerial conference that is currently ongoing. The three-day forum is meant to facilitate the transport of agricultural products, people, goods, and services. The agreement represents a legal, institutional and operational framework between the two countries, meant to secure the use of current and future infrastructure and/or transport services in Liberia by Guinean mining operators. It also facilitates the importation to Guinea by mining operators of goods used for mining projects in the neighbouring country. In remarks at the formal opening session of the conference this week, Liberia’s…

WASHINGTON: Nearly a year ago, then-US president Donald Trump notoriously conducted a photoshoot with a Bible in front of St John’s Church in Washington, DC, while authorities violently cleared nearby Lafayette Park of reporters and protesters mourning the loss of George Floyd. At the time, many accused the Trump administration of ordering the removal. Trump announced on Wednesday that a new report from the Department of Interior’s Office of the Inspector General completely exonerates him and his administration from any wrongdoing on June 1, 2020. “Thank you to the Department of the Interior Inspector General for Completely and Totally exonerating me in the clearing of Lafayette Park!” Trump said in response to the IG report. “As we have said all along, and it was backed up in today’s highly detailed…

SYDNEY: A “lab-leak hypothesis” about the origin of Covid-19 is flawed, said Dominic Dwyer, a professor at the University of Sydney, in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald published on Tuesday. The key flaw, he said, is that no evidence shows that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had SARS-CoV-2 before the pandemic. “The laboratory leak, for that to be the origin … meant they must have had the virus to begin with, and we don’t have evidence of that,” said Dwyer, who was also a member of the World Health Organization team sent to China in January. The Wuhan Institute of Virology had no reason to hide anything if they did have the virus, said Dwyer.…