Table of contents for 2022-04-22 in Cape Times

FOR the first time on record, a Southern right whale has been monitored on a remarkable journey from the coast of South Africa to Argentina, swimming over 10 000km. The Mammal Research Institute Whale Unit at the University of Pretoria commenced its 42nd annual photo identification aerial survey between Nature’s Valley and Muizenberg to monitor the South African population of Southern right whales in October last year. Out of the 414 Southern Right whales that were counted, four were tagged with satellite transmitters. One cow-calf that was tagged in Walker Bay, made their way across the South Atlantic and is currently on the Patagonian shelf. The tag had stopped transmitting on December 14 and came back online on Tuesday. “This is unprecedented and has never been recorded so it…

TOTALENERGIES said it’s committed to extensive engagement with affected parties as it launches an environmental application process for drilling activities off South Africa’s south-western coast. TotalEnergies Exploration & Production South Africa (TEEPSA) and its Joint Venture partners hold an Exploration Right over Block 5/6/7, within which two-dimensional and three-dimensional seismic surveys have been undertaken. They said based on an analysis of acquired seismic data, TEEPSA proposed to drill one exploration well, and, depending on its success, up to four additional wells within an Area of Interest. The Area of Interest is 10 000km2 in extent and is located offshore between Cape Town and Cape Agulhas, about 60km from the coast at its closest point and 170km at its furthest, in water depths of between 700m and 3 200m. They have…

SINCE primary school, Siya Charles has always had a natural knack for music. Now her exceptional talent as a trombone player, along with hard work, has landed her a $52,250 (R796 282) scholarship to attend the world famous, The Juilliard School in New York City later this year. The Juilliard School has an acceptance rate of around 7%, making Charles’ acceptance to study a Master of Music degree, specialising in jazz tenor trombone performance, all the more extraordinary. “On behalf of the Jazz Tenor Trombone faculty and the Admissions Committee, it gives me great pleasure to offer you admission to the Master of Music program at The Juilliard School for the 2022-23 academic year. We are thrilled to invite you to join this extraordinary community of performing artists from around…

WINDSWEPT & INTERESTING Billy Connolly Loot.co.za (R334) TWO ROADS BILLY Connolly is a globally loved Scottish comedian and actor, knighted in 2017 by Queen Elizabeth II. There was no sign back then, that the next few years would be extremely challenging for him. Connolly has Parkinson’s and in 2013 decided to retire from live performances. As time went by, his hands began to shake uncontrollably. He also suffers from prostate cancer. His brilliantly titled new autobiography, Windswept and Interesting, is both a visual description of the man and also the way he conducts his life. “I dictated my thoughts and memories into my phone. It wasn’t as easy as I imagined, because my phone turned out to be none too bright – the software I used couldn’t understand a Glaswegian…

Her track record in liberation politics sets her apart from Ramaphosa in race for top spot THE public political spat between two ANC presidential candidates: Minister of Tourism Lindiwe Sisulu and current president, Cyril Ramaphosa, signifies two different schools of political ideology, ethics and commitment. These ideological differences were underscored when Sisulu stood up in early January this year and publicly critiqued the Constitution as one that enables the exploitation of legal loopholes in favour of the very wealthy at the expense of the marginalised majority – as well as rendering the government and judiciary subordinate to market dictates. She was subjected to a vindictive political backlash and social vilification as a result. In her article: “Hi Mzansi, have we seen Justice?”, Sisulu criticised the shortcomings of the Constitution, just…

A group of 40 former government officials and leading non-proliferation experts have urged US President Joe Biden to successfully complete negotiations for a return to the nuclear deal with Iran, warning that Tehran is a week or two away from producing sufficient weapons-grade uranium to fuel a bomb. Yesterday the experts said failure to reverse the policies of the Donald Trump administration, which withdrew from the agreement between world powers and Iran in 2018, would be “irresponsible” and “would increase the danger that Iran would become a threshold nuclear-weapon state”. All sides in the negotiations are expressing pessimism that a new agreement can be reached to restart the 2015 deal, under which Iran sharply limited its nuclear programme and submitted to strict international verification in exchange for the lifting of…

An explosion claimed by the Islamic State at a Shi’ite mosque in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif yesterday killed at least 11 people and wounded 32, a health official said, one of a series of blasts around the country. A separate blast caused at least 11 more casualties in Kunduz, another northern Afghan city, officials said. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Mazar-e-Sharif attack. The explosions happened during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and two days after blasts tore through a high school in the Shi’ite Hazara area in western Kabul, killing at least six. The Shi’ite community, a religious minority in Afghanistan, is frequently targeted by Sunni militant groups, including Islamic State. Hospitals in Kunduz had received 11 killed or wounded people in a separate explosion, according…

GAZA: Israel carried out air strikes in central Gaza before dawn yesterday after a rocket attack launched from the Palestinian territory landed in Israel, Hamas officials and Israeli military sources said. Two training camps used by Hamas, the Islamist group that rules the blockaded enclave, were hit, and no casualties were reported. Israeli war planes struck a security post and part of an underground site used to produce rocket engines, the Israeli military said. Earlier, a rocket fired from Gaza struck southern Israel, causing slight damage to a house but no injuries, police said. No faction claimed responsibility for what is the second such attack in days. | Reuters…

BEIJING: The treatment of a 92-year-old Shanghai woman who was sent to quarantine late at night has caused anger in China, underscoring the frustration many are feeling under the strict Covid Zero rules. Police had a locksmith force open a door to the flat occupied by the woman and her son at 2am when no one responded to their knocking. Police said they feared “an accident” and the pair voluntarily came out. They later spent hours sitting in a hallway because the quarantine site they were sent to was out of beds, a relative said. About two-thirds of the city’s 25 million residents remain under a lockdown that started three weeks ago. | The Washington Post…

TRANSNET National Ports Authority (TNPA) said yesterday that it had received a favourable response from industry on its plans for a liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal at the Port of Richards Bay and would issue a request for proposal “within weeks”. The project comes as the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s Strategic Plan for 2020-25 focuses on the development of the gas market as an alternative source of energy to meet limited and depleting energy supply in South Africa, as Eskom battles to keep the lights on. The country’s Integrated Resources Plan too has a gas power generation target of 3 000MW by 2027. “Approximately 19 companies responded to the RFI (request for information). The response included major developers and operators of gas infrastructure in South Africa, Europe,…

From page 1 The KDF hopes that Premier Winde would choose a woman or a man that would see all township schools as deserving of the Western Cape Department of Education’s attention.” ANC spokesperson on education Khalid Sayed said while Schäfer claimed to leave the department a better place than she had found it, this contrasted with the lived experiences of learners and educators. “She is the MEC who oversaw the Western Cape as it slipped from a top performer in the matric results to number 3 nationally. “As she leaves public office, we thank her for her service and wish her well in her future endeavours.” Sayed added that the DA could not deliver equality and justice in education regardless of who the premier appointed. EFF provincial spokesperson Andisiwe…

LIMPOPO commissioner of police Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe has ordered a 72-hour activation plan for law enforcement agencies to hunt down assailants following the murder of a 74-year-old farmer and his wife. The couple’s farmhouse was allegedly set on fire during a house robbery on their farm at Levubu, outside Thohoyandou on Wednesday. Limpopo police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Malesela Ledwaba said the farmer and his wife were burnt beyond recognition. “It is alleged that a passerby noticed two strangers wandering in the premises. Apparently the two, who were about to leave the premises in the vehicle belonging to the farmer, were somehow disturbed and fled the scene on foot, leaving the vehicle full of properties belonging to the farmer behind. “The police were notified and on arrival, they reportedly found…

ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) member and former uMkhonto we sizwe commander Tony Yengeni has labelled calls for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s second term as “nonsense”. Speaking to the Cape Times yesterday, Yengeni said he has seen no change in Ramphosa’s five years as the party’s president. “Any leader who seeks a second term to lead the government or the ANC should do so on the basis of having implemented a programme to better the lives of our people. In the last five years that has not happened. In fact things have gotten worse. In my own experience, I have never seen the ANC this divided. Again I ask: a second term for what?” However, sources close to Ramaphosa’s second term campaign said they were not surprised, arguing that Yengeni did…

POLICE have appealed to the public for information after a 23-year-old man was shot and killed in his car in a suspected gang-related shooting in Lansdowne on Wednesday night. A woman and baby were also wounded in the drive-by shooting, said police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut. “Last night at around 9.30pm, an unknown suspect opened fire at the occupants of a white VW Polo on the corners of Jan Smuts Drive and Turfhall Road in Lansdowne. The driver of the vehicle was shot and killed, while his two passengers, a 25-year-old female and an one-year-old baby were injured. “The injured victims were admitted to a local medical facility. The suspect fled with other suspects in a red Opel Corsa and they are yet to be arrested," said Traut. Police said…

ENERGY economist Lungile Mashele has expressed concern over Eskom burning through money to pay for diesel, yet load shedding persists, after the power utility boss shared this month that it had already spent more than R620 million on the fuel. In the first three weeks of the month, Eskom has used 48.5 million litres of diesel to meet power demands. The power utility has 79 generation units at its coal-fired power stations and of these, 18 are offline. Two more units are set to return to service in the next 24 hours. Eskom chief executive Andre de Ruyter shared the figures during a media briefing following an announcement that stage 3 load shedding would be downgraded to stage 2. The planned capacity outages stood at 5 349 megawatts (MW), while…

Highschoolers, beware: before you annotate your next copy of The Great Gatsby, check the publication date. It might be worth a fortune. “The Great Gatsby is considered, in collecting terms, the No 1 American novel to collect,” says the London-based rare book dealer Peter Harrington. “A lot of that has to do with the dust jacket – people just seem to desperately want it.” Harrington will soon bring a first edition of the 1925 book, widely considered F Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, to New York’s International Antiquarian Book Fair, which runs from April 21-24 at the Park Avenue Armory. Harrington’s book is priced at about $360 000 (about R5.2 million), placing it at the upper tier of a booming collectible market. “For 20th century literature, this is definitely up there,”…

IF YOU go by the maxim of James Madison, the fourth US president, that “a public debt is a public curse”, then South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s latest $3.5bn (about R53bn) addition to the national debt burden assumes a potentially sinister context. In Q1 2022, the National Treasury borrowed $750 million from the World Bank, through a development loan in February to boost the Ramaphosa government’s post-Covid economic recovery plan, complemented by the two-tranche $3bn international bond issuance last week, this time “to fund the government’s foreign currency commitments”. Madison was alluding to unsustainable public debt, which many critics argue “is helping to keep too many poor countries and poor people in poverty”. Debt metrics is subject to as much volatility as other macroeconomic and fiscal data, given…

Seventeen people have been killed in suspected jihadist attacks in northern Nigeria, where a more than decade-long Islamist insurgency has claimed tens of thousands of lives, sources said yesterday. Around two dozen fighters dressed in military-like uniforms and believed to be from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group sneaked on foot into Geidam town in Yobe state late on Wednesday, militia sources said. They rounded up nine people in a bar and slaughtered them, some with their hands tied behind their back, militia member Gremah Bukar said. “They killed nine people at the bar, including two women and a retired police officer,” he said. The jihadists also forced their way into the staff living quarters of a technical college, killing two people and torching buildings, said Bukar, in…

London: Queen Elizabeth II turned 96 yesterday receiving a rousing “Happy Birthday” from a military band and ceremonial gun salutes, after a troubled year hit by health concerns. But the queen, the oldest and longest-serving head of state in the world, marked the occasion with little fanfare, retreating to her Sandringham country estate. Her grandson Prince William and his wife Kate called her “an inspiration to so many”. This year’s birthday coincides with four days of public events from June 2 to 5 to mark her 70th year on the throne. US toy manufacturer Mattel released a Barbie doll of the queen. | AFP…

VATICAN CITY: Canada’s Red River Métis indigenous people met Pope Francis yesterday and accepted his apology for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s residential schools, which sought to erase their cultures and where many children suffered abuse. The group, also known as the Manitoba Métis, came to Rome separately from other Canadian delegations, who met the pope over a week of meetings ending April 1, when he issued a historic apology. Francis is to visit Canada at the end of the July and apologise on indigenous land. The aim of the schools, which operated between 1831 and 1996, was to assimilate indigenous children. | Reuters…

SEOUL: A die-hard Queen fan unveiled a life-size bronze statue of Freddie Mercury yesterday on South Korea’s resort island of Jeju, after an eight-year quest to honour his late hero. The music of British rock band Queen is popular in South Korea, a country more associated with home-grown K-pop dance bands. Jeju businessman and Queen superfan Baek Soon-yeob, 57, used to listen to bootleg recordings of Mercury, who died of Aids-related complications in 1991. Queen’s music was banned in South Korea in the 1970s by then-dictator Park Chung-hee’s regime, which considered it “unsuitable”. Baek said it had been an eight-year effort to build the statue. | AFP…

COACH Stuart Baxter was relieved of his duties by Kaizer Chiefs after a controversial second stint at the club. IOL Sport football writer Mihlali Baleka looks at five talking points that might have led to his sacking. No regard for the fans A portion of Chiefs’ supporters chanted “Baxter must go” following their 1-0 defeat to SuperSport United at home on Saturday upon their return to the stadium after more than two years. But the Brit didn’t appear to be bothered. He said he was open to walking if that’s what the majority of Amakhosi’s faithful and the chairman Kaizer Motaung wanted. Before that, though, Baxter had stressed that he’s not bothered by the criticism he gets on social media as people hide behind keyboards thinking that they know more…

From page 1 executive statement on the national state of disaster in KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday. Ramaphosa’s appearance will take place on the same day the National Assembly will form a joint ad hoc committee to oversee the national state of disaster in the wake of floods in KwaZulu-Natal and other parts of the country. This emerged when the national Assembly programme committee held its usual Thursday meeting. In her opening address to the committee, National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said she received a letter from Ramaphosa on Wednesday calling for a hybrid joint sitting at 2pm on Tuesday. “This is to ensure elected representatives of the people of our country can be directly involved in the oversight of the work that is needed to provide relief and repairs,” Mapisa-Nqakula said.…

EDUCATION MEC Debbie Schäfer’s sudden resignation could be viewed as a chance for Premier Alan Winde’s government to start giving attention to the plight of ignored township schools, say education activists and opposition parties. Schäfer tendered her resignation to Winde on Wednesday. In a statement, Winde said he would announce new changes to his provincial cabinet today. Speculation has been rife as this could also mean the filling of the post left vacant by axed Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz. In a joint statement yesterday, Schäfer said she was “ready to bow out of public life” and had been offered a job in the legal sector in the UK. She will leave office with effect from May 15. “I have been in politics now for 20 years, serving in all…

AN EX-POLICEMAN’S application for leave to appeal against his conviction and 18-year-sentence for robbery with aggravating circumstances, failed in the Supreme Court of Appeal this week. Former constable, David Komani, was convicted with three co-accused for a 2015 robbery at security company G4S in Limpopo after they ambushed the facility camouflaged in women’s clothing and took R11 million in cash. The woman cashiers, who were counting the money, sought refuge in the office within the counting hall. A technical support officer, who was operating the cameras, said the incident lasted no more than 30 minutes. After the mayhem, the robbers fled in a number of vehicles while firing gunshots. Komani, who was linked to the robbery by a confession and DNA evidence, was sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment for…

CHILDREN IN MIND Jenny Perkel Loot.co.za (R220) Wits University Press THIS is a psychologist’s guide for parents, caregivers and health-care practitioners to the emotional challenges facing children and their parents today. Research shows that certain childhood mental disorders are being diagnosed more frequently now than in previous generations. Many of today’s children and teenagers are more unhappy, anxious and distressed than young people used to be. In this highly informative book, child psychologist Jenny Perkel explores in depth why this might be so, highlighting what modern-day South African children and adolescents are experiencing, and the environment in which they are being raised. Children in Mind presents a broad range of up-to-date findings from psychological, neurobiological, genetic, psychiatric, sociological and epidemiological research related to the diagnosis and treatment of children’s mental…

MARIKANA Julian Brown Loot.co.za (R205) Jacana ON 16 August 2012, the South African police shot dead thirty-four men and injured hundreds more, bringing to an end a week-long strike at the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana. None of the murdered people posed a threat to any police officer. Existing studies of this nation-shaping and internationally significant event have often overlooked the experiences and perspectives of the striking miners themselves. Now, for the first time, the men’s lives – and deaths – are put at the centre of the story. Placing the strike in the context of South Africa’s long history of racial and economic exclusion, explaining how the miners came to be in Marikana, how their lives were ordinarily lived and the substance of their complaints, Julian Brown shows how…

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in the biggest battle of the war in Ukraine yesterday, declaring the port of Mariupol “liberated” after nearly two months of siege although hundreds of defenders were still holed up inside a steel works. Ukraine derided Putin’s attempt to avoid a final clash with its forces in the city as an acknowledgment that he lacked the troops to defeat them. In Washington, US President Joe Biden authorised a further $800 million (about R12.3 billion) in military aid for Ukraine including heavy artillery, citing a “critical window” in the conflict as it enters a new phase. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia’s leadership had made a “catastrophic mistake” by invading his country. He ruled out going to Moscow for direct talks on ending the war.…

French President Emmanuel Macron has maintained his lead over far-right challenger Marine Le Pen following a prickly television head-to-head debate, a poll showed yesterday. With just days to go before Sunday’s election run-off, the two were back on the campaign trail – Macron in a Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis with a strong left-wing vote, and Le Pen in the north of the country where she has a loyal following. Macron was seen as winning re-election with an unchanged 56% of the vote, according to a survey. But uncertainty about the final result remained high as the poll also showed that just 72% expected to cast their vote, a figure which would mark the lowest turnout since 1969. Viewers of the only debate between the two final candidates deemed Macron prone…

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday proposed a “global security initiative” that upholds the principle of “indivisible security”, a concept also endorsed by Russia, although he gave no details of how it would be implemented. In a video speech to the annual Boao Asia Forum, Xi said the world should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, while paying attention to the “legitimate” security concerns of all. “We should uphold the principle of indivisibility of security, build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture, and oppose the building of national security on the basis of insecurity in other countries,” Xi said. China has refused to condemn Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, and blames the Ukraine crisis on Nato’s eastward expansion. Analysts note that this is the first…

Dakar: Health workers in Senegal went on strike yesterday to protest at charges filed against six midwives accused of negligence in a death that sparked nationwide anger. The National Association of Midwives and several other groups in the health sector said they were joining a work stoppage ranging from one to three days. The public health system has been “paralysed,” said Mballo Dia Thiam at an umbrella group of health-care workers called Asas. The health minister said it had “taken steps”. The affair was sparked by the death of a nine-months-pregnant woman named Astou Sokhna at a public hospital. | AFP…

While the Stormers have kept their changes to a minimum, Glasgow Warriors have made a number of amendments for their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash at Cape Town Stadium today (kick-off 6.30pm). As John Dobson’s side look to make it six consecutive wins in the URC, both changes are in the fowards, with Frans Malherbe back at tighthead prop and Junior Pokomela coming in at openside flank in the place of Deon Fourie, who is still recovering from a minor leg injury. Lock Salmaan Moerat and fullback Warrick Gelant will both make their return from injury from the bench, with front rowers Ali Vermaak and JJ Kotze also among the replacements. It will be the hosts’ second-last game at home - with Leinster coming up next - before…