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

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE NATIONAL Treasury has noted, but rejected a number of industry stakeholder comments on the proposal to increase excise duties for tobacco and alcohol to a rate of 8 percent in a bid to raise R1.8 billion revenue for the fiscus. Briefing parliament yesterday, Treasury said it had received written comments from 76 contributors on the 2021 Draft Tax Bills which, among others, give effect to increases of the excise duties on alcohol and tobacco products as proposed in the February Budget. The excise hike has placed the excise incidence on the cigarette’s most popular price category (MPPC) at 45 percent compared to the Treasury's targeted excise burden of 40 percent of the retail price of the most popular brand. Treasury uses Peter…

Gerry Cupido geraldine.cupido@inl.co.za There is a common misconception that naturalista have it easy and that wearing your curly is low maintenance. Well anyone with a crown of ringlets will tell you that it’s quite the opposite. If left to its own devices, curly hair can easily become unruly, dry, and prone to breakage. While winter can be brutal on curly hair, summer brings its own challenges. The harsh UV rays can leave hair dehydrated, humidity causes unwanted frizz and there is damage caused by salty seawater and swimming pool chemicals. Here are tips on how to maintain healthy curly hair this summer. Co-wash, or limit your shampoos Because you spend more time outdoors and you’re more prone to feeling hot and sweaty, the temptation to wash your hair regularly is…

Mayibongwe Maqhina mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za ESKOM’S finances have been qualified for the fifth year in a row due to incomplete and inaccurate disclosure of irregular expenditure. This emerged when the office of Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke, through audit firm SizweNtsalubaGobodo-Grant Thornton, briefed the standing committee on public accounts on the audit of the power utility’s finances for 2020-21. Auditor Siyakhula Vilakazi said they had been qualifying the entity on the same item since 2016-17. “We found a number of those areas where there is non-compliance with the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). When we ask for explanations from Eskom as to why those are not disclosed as irregular expenditure, most of the time there are no satisfactory answers,” Vilakazi said. He added that where there was agreement, there was often no documentation indicating…

Chevon Booysen chevon.booysen@inl.co.za TWO RAPISTS, each serving life terms behind bars for raping a minor, have failed in their appeals against their convictions and sentencing. Msekeli Gaju and Siphesihle Qeqe were each convicted on two counts of rape in the Stellenbosch Regional Court for circumstances in which the victim was raped more than once. The trial court found there were no substantial and compelling reasons to depart from the prescribed sentence and duly sentenced the accused to life imprisonment. During the trial, it was detailed how the minor victim was making her way to a friend’s home in the company of two other women when they realised they were being followed by a group of men. Gaju and Qeqe were part of the group. “The (women) managed to shake the…

WHISTLE-BLOWER Athol Williams deserves the highest honour this country can offer for his bravery in exposing alleged malfeasance involving some companies doing business with the SA Revenue Service (Sars). Instead, Williams has been forced to flee the country citing concerns about his safety. The former senior lecturer at UCT’s Graduate School of Business provided damning testimony at the Zondo Commission on information relating to Sars and his former job at management consultancy firm Bain. The firm was working with former president Jacob Zuma for financial gain through state capture, he testified, adding that UCT, his former employer, had not supported him when he blew the whistle. Instead, the university continued to do business with companies involved in state capture, an allegation UCT has repeatedly denied. In a detailed statement on…

Ethiopian authorities have detained more than 70 drivers working with the UN, an internal UN email said, amid reports of widespread arrests of ethnic Tigrayans. The ethnicity of the drivers was not clear. On Tuesday, a UN spokesperson said at least 16 UN staff and dependents had been detained in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. The detained drivers were in addition to those detained staff, the email said. “We confirm that 72 outsourced drivers contracted by WFP (World Food Programme) have been detained in Semera,” a UN spokesperson said, referring to the capital city of the north-eastern region of Afar. “We are liaising with the government of Ethiopia to understand the reasons behind their detention.” Government spokesperson Legesse Tulu did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The police…

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Tuesday called on the world’s 1 000 richest people and 1 000 highest-value private corporations to voluntarily contribute 4% of their fortunes annually to a $1 trillion (about R15 trillion) fund that he said would fight “marginalization and misery” and help reverse a global slide “from civilization into barbarity.” In an address before the UNSecurity Council, which Mexico is presiding over this month, López Obrador said the fund would be used to support 750 million people who live on less than $2 a day, or roughly the World Bank’s benchmark for “extreme poverty.” He also called on the Group of 20 nations, which includes Mexico, to contribute 0.2% of their gross domestic product and suggested funds be paid out directly in…

Rome: An Italian judge has issued an international arrest warrant for the grandfather of the boy who survived a cable car crash, local media reported yesterday, in an ongoing custody battle. Padua Judge Pasquale Villani issued the warrant for Shmulik Peleg, who is accused of illegally taking 6-year-old Eitan Biran from Italy to Israel after the death of the child’s parents, Italian media reported. Peleg, the boy’s maternal grandfather, has appealed last month’s ruling by an Israeli court that he return Eitan to his paternal aunt in Italy. Eitan is the sole survivor of May’s accident that killed 14 people, including his parents.…

DAMASCUS: Unknown warplanes struck the weapon depots of Iranian-backed militias in Syria’s eastern province of Deir al-Zour after midnight, a war monitor reported yesterday. Several explosions were heard in the Bukamal area near the Syrian-Iraqi border following the strikes, which destroyed weapon depots, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Britain-based watchdog group said the attack was part of repeated targeting of Iranian positions in Deir al-Zour, and that the Iranian-backed militias had recently been redeploying in areas they controlled to avoid aerial targeting.…

Herman Gibbs herman.gibbs@africannewsagency.com MAMELODI Sundowns Ladies have nailed down a semi-final berth after a slender 1-0 win over Nigeria’s flag bearers Rivers Angels in the CAF Women’s Champions League at El Salam Stadium in Cairo on Tuesday. The win allowed the undefeated Sundowns to go three points clear at the top of Group B with six points after two outings. Kenya’s Vihiga Queens and Morocco’s AS FAR are next best with three points, but the Kenyans have a slightly better goal difference. The winless Rivers Angels prop up the standings and have yet to bag a point after two outings. After two rounds in both Group A and B, Sundowns are the only team in the eight-team field that have not conceded a goal. The Ghanaian outfit Hasaacas are…

Gerry Cupido geraldine.cupido@inl.co.za When it comes to fashion shows, Gucci always takes production to another level. Their shows are never anything less than spectacular and this year they blew us away once again when they unveiled their Old-Hollywood-inspired collection, “Love Parade”. And they couldn’t have chosen a more perfect location that the legendary Hollywood Boulevard . While the collection itself, which was a combination of Hollywood glam, cowboy-chic Americana and ’70s-style suits, was breathtaking, it was the stars in attendance that stole the show. All the who’s who in Hollywood, and everybody who’s anybody on the social scene, from sports to rock bands, was there. While many of the stars, all draped in Gucci of course, parked their fabulous behinds in the front row, their were quite a few who…

Siphokazi Vuso siphokazi.vuso@inl.co.za DEVASTATED environmental organisations have expressed outrage over Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DFFE) Minister Barbra Creecy’s decision to dismiss appeals lodged against a decision to grant Environmental Authorisation to Mineral Sands Resources (PTY) Ltd in respect of a prospecting right application in Olifants River. Seven appeals were lodged against the decision taken by the Mineral Regulation of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) as well as the Western Cape Regional Office to grant an Environmental Authorisation (EA) to Mineral Sands Resources (Pty) Ltd on November 11 last year. The appellants said they were “concerned” about the potential impacts that drilling might have on coastal communities and the Olifants River itself. However, Creecy said earlier this month it was stated by the applicants that the…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za | SEE PICTURE PAGE 3 ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile has vowed to a group of disgruntled ANC members who stormed the ANC’s provincial offices at Constitutional House, that the national executive committee (NEC) will look into problems in the Dullah Omar Region (DOR). The group of nearly 100 people, who identify themselves as activists from branches across the DOR, joined by SACP members and members of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL), held a demonstration at the offices yesterday. Among their demands was that the names of people on the Proportional representational (PR) councillor list be withdrawn, the DOR Executive Committee be disbanded and that no meetings be convened by the REC in its “cabal” form. Mashatile was at Constitutional House to meet with ANC…

Okuhle Hlati and Marsha Dean FOURTEEN-month old Luna Buchanan will now have peaceful and painless nights, thanks to Tygerberg Academic Hospital’s Smile Week. Born with Pfeiffer Syndrome, she underwent cranial remodelling surgery on Tuesday which Head of division of plastic and reconstructive surgery, Dr Alexander Zuhlke doctors said was the biggest operation for the week. Luna is one of 19 children who benefit from life-changing reconstructive surgery throughout Smile Week, in an initiative between Tygerberg Hospital, the Smile Foundation and German non-profit donor Big Shoe. Luna had eight-hour surgery, where her skull was re-shaped to allow more room for her brain to grow. Her emotional mother Maggy Capatti, 44, from Panorama in Parow said it had been a tough journey filled with sleepless nights. “I have been in and out…

WASHINGTON: Some 8 million metric tons of pandemic-related plastic waste have been created by 193 countries, about 26.000 tons of which are now in the world’s oceans, where they threaten to disrupt marine life and further pollute beaches, a recent study found. The findings, by a group of researchers based in China and the US, were published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal. Concerns had been raised since the start of the coronavirus pandemic that there would be a boom in plastic pollution amid heightened use of personal protective equipment and rapid growth in online commerce. The study is among the first to quantify the scale of plastic waste linked to the health crisis. The cost of the increase in plastic waste has been…

LOS ANGELES: Dwayne Johnson, the action star whose films pull in big bucks at global box offices, is aiming to entertain viewers in their living rooms with his next movie spectacle, the globe-trotting Netflix heist caper Red Notice. Johnson stars in the movie with Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds about a race to locate and steal three valuable artefacts. The movie will stream on Netflix starting on Friday after playing for a week in a limited number of movie theaters. The film ranks among the most expensive ever made by Netflix, with a price tag of roughly $200 million.…

A Conservative lawmaker at the centre of a sleaze row in Britain following reports he used his office for lucrative private work insisted yesterday that he had not broken the rules. Geoffrey Cox claimed he gave constituency work “primary importance”. “He does not believe that he breached the rules but will accept the judgment,” his office said. Cox, a lawyer and former attorney general, reportedly earned more than £1 million (about R20.3m) in the last year for legal work, while still collecting his annual MP’s salary of around £82 000. He netted the lucrative sums in part for advising the government of the British Virgin Islands, a UK overseas territory and tax haven accused of corruption, the Daily Mail reported. The revelations have intensified the pressure on Prime Minister Boris…

Nairobi: The family of a young Kenyan mother allegedly murdered by a British soldier almost a decade ago is planning to sue the British army to demand answers over her death, their lawyers said yesterday. The body of Agnes Wanjiru, 21, was found in 2012 after she reportedly went out partying with British soldiers at a hotel in the central town of Nanyuki, where the UK army has a permanent garrison. Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper reported last month that a British soldier confessed to killing Wanjiru and showed comrades where he dumped her body in a septic tank behind the hotel.…

stuart.hess@inl.co.za KHAYA Zondo feels he’s ready for the international stage - again. He was ready in 2015 when first picked for the Proteas One-Day squad in India. He, infamously, didn’t play a game in that series. He was ready again when another chance came his way three years later, the opposition once more, India, this time at home. Zondo made 54 in one match. He played a couple of ODI matches against Zimbabwe later in 2018, but wasn’t in the frame for the World Cup the next year. Now, he’s been picked again. So is he better prepared this time, than those previous occasions? “Every time I’ve been selected I was ready. I don’t think they pick a player who they don’t think is ready or up for the…

Siyabonga Mkhwanazi SOME political parties have called on Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to deal with the energy crisis at Eskom in his medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) today as the country battles the latest round of load shedding. They want Godongwana to keep a tight ship, with the government’s purse getting smaller, and prioritise social spending. Godongwana is expected to table his maiden MTBPS, having been appointed to the position in August when his predecessor Tito Mboweni quit. The DA, Cope and ACDP yesterday said they did not want more of the same as the country was facing a minefield of problems. Cope national spokesperson Dennis Bloem said they wanted solutions to Eskom’s energy crisis. “The first thing we look forward to hearing from the minister is the issue of…

Siphokazi Vuso siphokazi.vuso@inl.co.za POLITICAL parties in Beaufort West in the Central Karoo have begun coalition negotiations. Party leaders met yesterday, including those of the ANC, Patriotic Alliance (PA), Karoo Democratic Force (KDF) and the Karoo Gemeenskap Party (KGP) to finalise coalition agreements. ANC head of communications, Sifiso Mtsweni, said negotiations were continuing. “At this stage there is nothing conclusive as the process is led from national (level). There is a team led by the treasurer-general and deputy secretary-general in talks which are ongoing with other parties. We have a team in the province led by the convenor cadre Lerumo Kalako which also includes NEC deployees led by cadre Alvin Botes. “Very soon we will announce our approach to the 15 hung municipalities in the province,” he said. Goliat Lottering…

RUSSIA blamed the EU yesterday for the migrant crisis on the border between Belarus and Poland, accusing it of trying to “strangle” Belarus with plans to close part of the frontier and urging it to talk directly with Minsk. As migrants from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa made new attempts to break into Poland overnight, Moscow sent a further signal of support for its ally Belarus by dispatching two strategic bomber planes to patrol Belarusian airspace. The Tu-22M3 bombers helped test Belarus’s joint air defence system, RIA news agency quoted the defence ministry as saying in a statement that did not refer to the migrant crisis but served to underline the rise in tensions on Nato’s eastern frontier. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a joint news conference with…

LOS ANGELES: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, said that in a letter sent to Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey the day before the riot, he shared his concerns regarding a possible uprising, the Daily Mail reported. “Jack and I were emailing each other prior to January 6 where I warned him his platform was allowing a coup to be staged,” he said. “That email was sent the day before and then it happened and I haven’t heard from him since.” Prince Harry, who earlier joined the Aspen Institute as one of 15 commissioners to examine current problems with misinformation in the US, attended a discussion devoted to disinformation. “Misinformation is a global humanitarian crisis. I felt it personally over the years and I’m now watching it happening globally, affecting everyone…

Harare: A Zimbabwean judge has thrown out a case against a couple who shared a photoshopped nude of the country’s president on a WhatsApp group, their lawyer said yesterday. Sarudzayi Ambiri Jani, 39, and Remember Ncube, 35, were arrested in June 2020 for sharing the image on a neighbourhood group in the southern border town of Beitbridge. The image showed President Emmerson Mnangagwa, 79, naked except for regalia from his Zanu-PF party, with a mask hanging on a penis. Zimbabwe has strict laws that forbid undermining the president. But magistrate Takudzwa Gwazemba tossed out the charges.…

TOKYO: The lower chamber of the Japanese parliament has elected Fumio Kishida, the head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, the 101st Japanese prime minister by a majority of 297 votes. In Japan, a prime minister is elected by a majority vote. Each political party proposes its candidate. Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) secured a majority in the lower chamber on October 31. The LDP in coalition with the Komeito Party won 293 of the 465 seats available. Kishida took over a new cabinet in October after his predecessor, Yoshihide Suga, resigned due to criticism over his response to the Covid-19 pandemic.…