Table of contents for 2022-06-14 in Cape Times

AGRIBUSINESS sentiment was dented by unrelenting input cost pressures with fuel and agrochemicals still elevated, aggressive interest rate hikes and ongoing global and domestic logistics challenges in what was supposed to have been a relatively good season, FNB senior agricultural economist Paul Makube said yesterday. Adding to woes was the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, which saw bans on South African export products of cloven-hoofed animals. China’s ban was particularly significant given its share of more than 22 percent and 70 percent, respectively, for beef and wool products and had yet to be resolved. The Agbiz/IDC Agribusiness Con- fidence Index (ACI), which was released yesterday, moderated further by 2 points to 60 points in the second quarter following a 12-point decline in the first quarter this year. Makube…

Parliament will investigate allegations of gender-based violence (GBV) during the chaotic budget vote for the Presidency last week. This comes hot on the heels of the EFF lodging assault and sexual assault complaints against National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and the parliamentary protection officers at the Cape Town central police station. The chamber was turned upside down last Thursday and Friday when EFF MPs refused to be addressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, leading to some forcefully ejected from the chamber. Yesterday, Parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo confirmed that EFF chief whip Floyd Shivambu had lodged a complaint and asked Mapisa-Nqakula to probe GBV against female party MPs allegedly by parliamentary protection officers. Mothapo said Mapisa-Nqakula had been advised that two parliamentary protection officials also suffered abuse, assault and intimidation from an…

GUPTA brothers Rajesh and Atul are expected to use the “political witchhunt” theory as part of their defence strategy in their fight against extradition from the United Arab Emirates. This as the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Department of Justice have appointed one of the country’s leading extradition lawyers, Anton Katz SC, to assist in convincing the UAE that the Guptas should return to South Africa and appear before its courts. Katz yesterday said he was not in a position to talk to the press, but Department of Justice spokesperson Chrispin Phiri confirmed that Katz and two other advocates, Kessler Perumalsamy and Eshed Cohen, would at some stage travel to the UAE to start extradition proceedings against the Gupta brothers. Rajesh and Atul were arrested in Dubai last week…

Almost as of Yesterday is a chapter in Rev Dr Allan Boesak’s Selfless Revolutionaries. This is the first of a two-part series. SOMEWHERE between 1970 and 1972, Steve Biko gave an interview in which he was prophetic. If, he said, South Africa were one day to have only a few black faces in office, and not fundamental changes of economic policies allowing only a few blacks to become rich, and not “a whole new economic pattern” that will bring meaningful redistribution of wealth, opportunities and power, “our society will be run almost as of yesterday.” In 2019, a journalist from Time Magazine in the US visited South Africa to “see what lessons the world could learn from South Africa”. After 1994, there were the lessons of reconciliation. Now, after Cyril…

THE United Ulama Council of South Africa (UUCSA) says it has written to the Film and Publication Board requesting that it refuse the screening and publication of UK film Lady of Heaven in South Africa, saying it “distorts historical truths“. The 2021 film depicts a story of a child from Iraq who after losing his mother in the midst of a war-torn country, learns the importance and power of patience by discovering the historical story of Lady Fatima and her suffering. It has been slammed for its depiction of Islamic prophets and for its “poor background research and inflammatory content”. The UUCSA’s secretary-general, Yusuf Patel, said the release of the film has caused “outrage and hurt to Muslims across the globe”. “The movie distorts historical truths, advocates sectarianism and is…

THE heartbroken family of slain Bolt driver Abongile Mafalala said they want justice for his murder, after his case was postponed in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Mafalala was assaulted and set alight by a mob in Parkwood two weeks go. The 31-year-old was allegedly transporting people in the area when he was wrongfully accused of child kidnapping. Zharnay Johnson, Antonio Bailey, Ivan Ruiters, Nathan Leeman, Yuven Nawat, Bradley Murphy, Carlton Williams and Ashwin Tifflon were joined by Remano Witbooi, Cheslyn Spanenberg and a 15-year-old minor also charged for his murder. National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the accused were also charged with robbery with aggravating circumstances and malicious damage to property. “Their case was postponed until June 23 for an advocate from the DPP office to deal…

THE ongoing impact of the pandemic, looming price increases and unstable markets might have parents wondering what they can do to prepare their children for an unknown future work environment. Fortunately, it’s not all doom and gloom. There are many new opportunities, and the future is bright if your child is properly equipped to take on the challenge. There is great value in teaching your child the importance of being flexible, and that the working world is dynamic and changing, so they need to be too if they are to survive and thrive. The ideal time to start encouraging them to do this would be during middle school (Grades 7 to 9). Encourage your child to participate in various extra-murals and holiday clubs, to learn and develop their interests in…

A London court has begun hearing the first of two last-minute legal challenges to block the British government’s policy to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda before the first removal flight is scheduled to leave today. Britain has agreed a deal with Rwanda to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda in return for an initial payment of £120 million (R2.3 billion) and additional payments based on the number of people deported. The government says the deportation strategy is aimed at undermining people-smuggling networks and stemming the flow of migrants risking their lives by crossing the English Channel in small boats from Europe. Initially, some 37 individuals were scheduled to be removed on the first flight to Rwanda, but the number has dwindled amid legal challenges. A lawyer for human right groups…

LONDON: British opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer is being investigated by parliament’s standards commissioner over whether he broke the rules on registering his earnings and gifts. “Keir Starmer takes his declaration responsibilities very seriously and has already apologised for the fact that administrative errors in his office have led to a small number of late declarations,” a spokesperson for Starmer said. “The standards commissioner has asked for more information, which we are happy to provide.” Starmer said he was “absolutely confident” he had done nothing wrong. | Reuters…

Jerusalem: Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid yesterday urged citizens in Turkey to leave “as soon as possible” over threats that Iranian operatives are actively planning attacks on Israelis in Istanbul. “It’s a real and immediate danger,” Lapid told a meeting of lawmakers from his Yesh Atid party, citing “several Iranian attempts at carrying out terror attacks against Israelis on holiday in Istanbul”. Iran and Israel are arch rivals and Tehran has accused the Jewish state of assassinations targeting Iranian nuclear and military personnel. Iran claimed that Israel was responsible for the killing of Revolutionary Guards Colonel Sayyad Khodai on May 22. | AFP…

LONDON: Britain was setting out plans yesterday to override some post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland, in a fresh clash with the EU. As Brussels talked of damage to trust, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the steps were needed to improve trade and simplify bureaucracy. Tensions have been simmering after Britain accused the bloc of a heavy handed approach to the movement of goods between Britain and Northern Ireland. Britain has been threatening for months to rip up the protocol, forcing an effective customs border between Northern Ireland and the UK. Brussels believes any unilateral change may breach international law. | Reuters…

Madrid: Spain was yesterday in the grips of a heatwave expected to reach “extreme” levels, and France is bracing for one, too, as meteorologists blame the unusually high seasonal temperatures on global warming. The “unusual” temperatures for the time of year follow the hottest May in at least 100 years in Spain, said the Spanish Meteorological Agency. It said the current heatwave would bring extreme temperatures and could last until the end of the week. The mercury will rise above 40C° in the day in many Spanish towns and remain high at night, 20C° to 22C°. The heatwave was also set to hit other parts of Europe, such as France, this week. AFP…

THE origins of Imanuwela David’s nationality, the alleged mastermind in the Farmgate million-dollar heist at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm, have been flagged as cause for further investigation by Namibia’s former head of the police's Criminal Investigations Directorate commissioner Nelius Becker in his report. David, who is referred to in the report as “ID”, is South African, according to his passport and identity document. He is the only local allegedly connected to the robbery at Ramaphosa’s farm, which saw the theft of about $4 million (more than R61m) “concealed” in furniture by a gang of Namibians working with the domestic worker. David was allegedly a former SA National Defence Force (SANDF) member, the report stated. “After the arrest of ID some information surfaced that ID’s family hailed from…

EMBATTLED ANC MPL Andile Lili says he will appeal the verdict finding him guilty of incitement of murder, charging he was expressing his freedom of speech. Lili was convicted for attending an illegal gathering outside the Bellville Magistrate’s Court and inciting members of the Ses’khona People’s Movement to commit murder in August 2014 and July 2015. Lili had allegedly told supporters that murderers and rapists should “be killed if people saw them walking in the streets”. He told the Cape Times yesterday that he was responding to a gender-based violence (GBV) incident where a 21-year-old was raped and murdered. “It was freedom of speech. A 21-year-old woman was raped in Khayelitsha. The community was angry. I said if rapists are seen on the streets they must be killed. That was…

YOUTH unemployment is one of the critical issues that need to be addressed for the sake of the future stability of the country. As we approach Youth Day, once again there are myriad promises of how the government is dealing with this crisis, especially the youth unemployment figure that Statistics SA reports sits at 66.5%. More than promises are required to fix this problem. Delivery on these promises is crucial to avoid a societal catastrophe from deepening. President Cyril Ramaphosa in his weekly newsletter speaks of the need to build a better future for all the young people of the country. “Today, the youth of South Africa confront new struggles in their quest to lead lives of dignity and in pursuit of a better life. Though we have made substantial…

Ukraine said yesterday its forces had been pushed back from the centre of key industrial city Severodonetsk, where President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described a fight for “literally every metre”. The cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, separated by a river, have been targeted for weeks as the last areas still under Ukrainian control in the eastern Lugansk region. Regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said yesterday Russian forces were “gathering more and more equipment” to “encircle” Severodonetsk. Moscow’s troops had “pushed our units from the centre and continue to destroy our city”, he said. The local Azot chemical plant, where hundreds of civilians have reportedly taken refuge, was being “heavily shelled”, Gaiday added. Severodonetsk has been “de facto” blocked off after Russian forces blew up the “last” bridge connecting it to Lysychansk on Sunday,…

A rebel group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that the government accuses of being supported by Rwanda has overrun a trading hub on the border with Uganda, local sources said yesterday. M23 fighters seized the town of Bunagana in eastern North Kivu province as some government forces retreated into Uganda, they said. Bunagana “is under enemy control”, a Congolese officer said. “The army has just given way and is heading into Uganda,” said Damien Sebusanane, head of a local civil society association, estimating the number of DRC troops retreating into Uganda at around 100. A humanitarian source on the ground said that heavy clashes broke out again on Sunday morning and the only way out for the embattled DRC troops was to cross into Uganda. The M23, a…

GENEVA: UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet said yesterday that she would not seek a second term for personal reasons, refuting speculation that it was a decision linked to blowback over her trip to China last month. Bachelet, 70, a former president of Chile, was criticised by rights groups as well as some Western governments, including the US, who said the conditions Chinese authorities imposed on the visit did not enable a complete and independent assessment of the rights environment. “As my term as High Commissioner draws to a close, this council’s milestone 50th session will be the last which I brief,” she said at the end of a wide-ranging speech to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council. She said she intended to return to Chile and spend time with her…

A LARGE study conducted on a free-ranging population of rhinos showed that about one in every seven rhinos in the Kruger National Park (KNP) had evidence that they had been infected with Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) – the pathogen that causes bovine tuberculosis (bTB). Stellenbosch University’s (SU) Animal Tuberculosis Research Group, South African National Parks (SANParks), and the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, US, tested samples of 437 rhinos collected from 2016 to 2020 in KNP. It showed an estimated prevalence of M. bovis infection of 15.4% in black and white rhino populations in the park. The authors further said that the findings did not really come as a surprise since TB was prevalent in at least 15 other species in KNP, but that their research had significant positive implications…

SOCIAL Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu has refused to name and shame the more than 3 000 public servants who pocketed social grants while working for the state, after R12.6 million was recovered from them. Zulu said she would make public the list of the implicated officials when ordered to do so by the court. “The agency is not at liberty to disclose the personal information obtained as a result of an application for a social grant unless directed by court orders such or the concerned individual has consented to such,” she said. Zulu was responding to parliamentary questions from DA MP Mhimhi Gondwe when she asked for the names of the 3 268 public servants who were found to not qualify for the social grants after the review process was…

FIFTY years after tragedy struck the Mount Pleasant community in Hermanus, the grief was still palpable during a commemoration and wreath-laying service held for 53 lives lost in a bus accident on June 11, 1972. A special ceremony was held in remembrance of sports players and supporters who were travelling back home after a sporting event in Paarl when the bus they were travelling in, suddenly crashed and went through the barriers at Riviersonderend in Villiersdorp. Organiser of the commemoration service and current assistant coach at Atlantics Rugby Football Club (ARFC), David Coert, said the bus had been carrying rugby players and supporters. “That is a day that we as a community will and should never forget. And the reason why we have decided to host the commemoration service is…

Absent government gives rise to conspiracy theories SOMETIMES the best way that the Cabinet and parliamentarians can help is simply to get out of the way, to do less or better, or simply not do anything at all. Having refused to get out of the course of the truth, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s stoic silence and steadfast refusal to reveal details of the so-called “Farmgate” scandal was as deafening as the chaos that erupted during last Thursday’s parliamentary sitting on his department’s budget vote. Admittedly, no one can question the commitment of the Cabinet and Parliament to doing nothing much at all, given how strikingly little our elected public representatives have achieved thus far. Just consider how alarmingly non-existent their ideas for tackling various crises seem. Despite their best efforts to…

Authorities in China’s capital Beijing raced yesterday to contain a Covid-19 outbreak traced to a 24-hour bar known for cheap liquor and big crowds, with millions facing mandatory testing and thousands under targeted lockdowns. The outbreak of 228 cases linked to the Heaven Supermarket Bar, which had just reopened as restrictions in Beijing eased last week, highlights how hard it will be for China to make a success of its “zero Covid-19” policy as much of the rest of the world opts to learn how to live with the virus. The re-emergence of infections is also raising new concerns about the outlook for the world’s second largest economy. China is only just shaking off a heavy blow from a long lockdown in Shanghai – its most populous city and commercial…

Gunmen kidnapped 30 wedding guests in northwest Nigeria over the weekend, two sources said yesterday, the latest in a surge of mass abductions hitting the region. The victims, all mobile phone traders, were returning to Zamfara state capital Gusau late on Saturday after the wedding of a colleague in neighbouring Sokoto state when they were seized, a union leader and a security source said. They were captured after one of their four vehicles broke down. Heavily armed criminal gangs are ravaging parts of northwest and central Nigeria, raiding villages and carrying out mass kidnappings for ransom despite military operations against them. The convoy of 50 wedding guests had stopped at Lambar Bakura village after one of the four buses they were driving in broke down, which was when their captors…

Tunis: A judge serving on Tunisia’s electoral board resigned yesterday in solidarity with a court strike after President Kais Saied sacked dozens of his colleagues. Habib Rebii, appointed by Saied to the electoral board (ISIE) on May 9, announced his resignation on Facebook. “I have handed in my resignation from ISIE in support of my fellow judges and to demand a basic judicial law that meets international standards,” he wrote. Saied, who dissolved parliament following a power grab last July, had issued a decree extending his control over the judiciary in early June, as well as sacking 57 judges he accused of corruption. That prompted a nationwide judges’ strike. | AFP…

MEXICO CITY: The migrant caravan that began to pass through the Mexican state of Chiapas on June 6 with the aim of reaching the US has been disbanded as Mexican officials offered temporary visas to migrants. The caravan, the largest so far this year, left the city of Tapachula on the border with Guatemala with more than 10 000 Central American, Venezuelan and Caribbean migrants, many of whom had waited months to receive permission to enter Mexico legally so they could pass through the country to the northern border. The migrants, who want to travel to the US, had formed the caravan after being denied visas by the Mexican government. | Xinhua…