Table of contents for 2022-11-17 in Cape Times

Three ex-political prisoners, as witnesses in the reopened inquest into late Imam Abdullah Haron’s death, detailed the trauma and psychological suffering they were left with after being held in solitary confinement. Yesterday, at the continuation of the inquest hearing at the Western Cape High Court, Yousuf Gabru, Stephanie Kemp and Shirley Gunn described their experiences – each having been detained and having suffered abuse while being interrogated for their political activities during apartheid. Gabru, a former teacher, told how he was arrested on November 10, 1976 when his home was raided by police, including Johannes “Spyker” van Wyk of the Security Branch (SB). Gabru told of his 43 days in detention where he was interrogated by the infamous Van Wyk “and another thug”. Gabru, who said he had not undergone…

Surgeons, their assisting surgical teams, other medical professionals and hospital staff will open their hearts and clear their schedules to perform reconstructive surgery on 28 children suffering from physical anomalies and the emotional pain of such conditions for Smile Week. Co-ordinated by the Smile Foundation, the upcoming Smile Week is sponsored by BigShoe, a non-profit worldwide growing network of football and sports fans, helping disadvantaged children with life-changing medical operations and more. Among the 28 children undergoing life-changing surgery is 2-year-old Chadlin, who was born with craniosynostosis, a birth defect in which the bones of a baby’s skull join together too early, before the brain is fully formed. His young life has been trying so far, having to go through tests, scans and various consultations from just four months. This…

SEVERAL suspects taken in for questioning over the kidnapping of 8-year-old Abirah Dekhta are expected in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court today. Abirah was located in a shack in Town Two, Khayelitsha on Monday evening. The Rylands Primary School pupil was abducted on November 4, in her lift club vehicle that was waiting for another pupil. Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said the suspects were due in court. “The suspects taken in for questioning for the kidnapping of 8-year-old Abirah Dekhta are expected to appear in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court tomorrow (on Thursday, November 17, 2022) on the mentioned charges,” said Van Wyk. Various specialised policing units and City of Cape Town’s law enforcement officials used state-of-the-art technology to locate Abirah. Gatesville residents, joined by business owners, had marched to the…

I HATE it when the lights go out. The darkness reminds me of a childhood without electricity, a time when I had to go to the outskirts of the city to collect firewood from the veld to burn. Today, as a 70-year- old woman, I lie in bed and worry about the future. Not just for me but for my grandchildren. Because despite all the progress we’ve made, too much has stayed the same. In many ways I wish I’d never become reliant on electricity. You have to stop whatever you’re doing when the lights go out. We recently had load shedding for two hours. Then at midday there was another two-hour blackout scheduled, followed by another two hours without power in the evening. What kind of life is…

Thousands of world leaders, corporate elites, and civil society activists provided different visions of the future at the UNs Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFFFC) held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Known as “COP27”, the climate summit follows 26 prior failures, including Durban’s 2011 COP17 hosted by Jacob Zuma. Egypt’s goal is to become a major natural gas exporter. Therefore one strikingly discordant note was the oppression of democrats, human rights activists and other critics of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s dictatorship. He arranged the COP in a way that served the interests of nearly 700 coal, oil and methane gas lobbyists. That fact alone illustrates how little chance there was to solve humanity’s worst-ever crisis. The goal of civil society – especially the climate justice movement –is always to dramatically lower carbon…

As COP27 delegates in Egypt debate planet-heating emissions, the climate crisis is exacerbating devastating hunger across several African nations and will worsen further without urgent action, the UN said yesterday. “If drastic measures are not taken urgently, hunger will increase as climate change is felt everywhere, most intensely in vulnerable areas, such as Sudan,” said Zitouni Ould-Dada, from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Sudan is among the East African nations facing “acute food insecurity”, the Famine Early Warnings Systems Network warned earlier this month, highlighting the dire situation, especially in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. As the COP27 summit opened, a joint statement from over a dozen UN agencies and major charities warned the Horn of Africa was gripped by the “longest and most severe drought in recent…

WASHINGTON: The US Senate yesterday held a vote on legislation to protect the right to same-sex marriage, spurred by concerns that a conservative Supreme Court could reverse its earlier decision that made it legal nationwide. The bill would serve as a legal backstop against any future Supreme Court action by requiring the federal government recognise any marriage that was legal in the state it was performed. Supporters of same-sex marriage were spurred to act when Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the court should also reconsider the legality of same-sex marriage, in a concurring opinion to the court’s overturning of federal protections for abortion in June. | Reuters…

TUNIS: The head of a Tunisian political party who is a prominent opponent of President Kais Saied said he was stopped from leaving the country yesterday, fuelling concerns over the right to dissent and democratic pluralism. Fadel Abdel Kefi, the head of the Afek Tounes party, said police stopped him at Carthage international airport and prevented him travelling without a warrant. The move comes a day after police started investigating a journalist over an article critical of the prime minister and in the run-up to legislative elections that Saied’s opponents have decried as undemocratic. | Reuters…

SAN FRANCISCO: Tesla CEO Elon Musk this week said he had worked through the night at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters and would keep “working and sleeping here” until the social media platform, which he recently acquired for $44 billion, was fixed. But the billionaire’s deep dive into Twitter, after a protracted buyout that he tried to scrap, has some Tesla investors worried about his capacity to focus on his role as CEO of the world’s most valuable carmaker. Tesla’s shares have dropped by 50% since early April, when he disclosed he had taken a stake in Twitter. Sales of Musk’s own Tesla shares,totaling $20bn, have added to the pressure. Tesla faces a list of challenges from demand concerns in China to a regulatory probe of the claims it makes about…

THE three-member panel of experts mandated to determine whether President Cyril Ramaphosa has a prima facie case to answer on his Phala Phala farm robbery has been given until November 30 to submit its report. This comes after the panel’s chairperson, retired chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, made the request for an extension to National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula. Parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said Ngcobo had indicated to Mapisa-Nqakula that the panel had assessed the enquiry process to determine if it would meet the submission today and based on its assessment of the amount of ground still to be covered and available resources, determined that the enquiry should be completed by November 30. “The panel said the additional time requested was realistic taking into account the importance of the enquiry, its…

TWO elderly women who allegedly cashed in on the government’s old age grants while also directors of companies which received more than R140 million in police tenders appeared in the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court yesterday on charges of fraud. Sarathamoney Sigamoney, 66, and Salamina Khoza, 68, are also facing charges of perjury, theft and contravening of the Social Assistance Act, said Sindisiwe Seboka, spokesperson for the Investigating Directorate. It is claimed that the accused received the older pensioners’ indigent grant while being sole directors of companies that were awarded tenders worth millions from the SAPS. Sigamoney is accused of having defrauded the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) of more than R123 000 and Khoza R152 000. Sigamoney was arrested yesterday morning, while Khoza was summoned to appear in…

A KENSINGTON family was left traumatised after they were robbed by sophisticated suspects pretending to be police officers. A family member who spoke to the Cape Times on condition of anonymity, said he received a call that his mother’s home was being robbed on Monday night. “When I arrived, I could not believe what they had to say. A group of criminals equipped with police uniforms, firearms, two marked bakkies and an unmarked 2016 Hyundai Elantra had robbed my family home in Kensington. This was such a well orchestrated robbery, one would think it’s from a movie scene. The two marked bakkies cordoned off the road. “The unmarked vehicle parked in front of the house – all with blue lights and sirens wailing. They demanded that the gates and doors…

THE painful revelations at the Imam Haron inquest are a solemn and painful reminder of the brutal atrocities of the previous rulers. The testimony of apartheid-era police officers is a litany of lies that history has torn to shreds. We as a nation must remember him for his dedication to free South Africa of oppression and express our admiration and the deepest respect certainly for his courage and steadfastness to give his life for the cause of righteousness, justice and equity. His death will serve to remind generations of our countrymen of a generous and fearless personality, and of a life of nobility and patriotism, service and sacrifice. Those who hounded and killed him have changed the course of South Africa. What they will probably achieve is his near deification…

Creating a better world in which a just cause is pursued for the common good ON THE afternoon of November 15, local time, Chinese President Xi Jinping and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Bali Summit, the first physical meeting between the two heads of state in three years since the outbreak of Covid-19. President Xi noted that, “China and South Africa enjoy a special friendship of ‘comradeship plus brotherhood’. Both being major developing countries, China and South Africa firmly uphold international fairness and justice and the common interests of developing countries”. The two heads of state had an in-depth exchange of views and reached a broad consensus on the development of bilateral relations and co-operation in various fields, as well…

Israel blamed Iran yesterday after what it said was a drone strike hit a tanker operated by an Israeli-owned firm carrying gas oil off the coast of Oman. The Pacific Zircon was “hit by a projectile approximately 150 miles (240km) off the coast of Oman ,” said Singapore-based firm Eastern Pacific Shipping, which operates the vessel, adding that there were no reports of casualties or any leakage of the cargo. The company is owned by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer, one of two sons of shipping magnate Sammy Ofer, who died in 2011. The tanker was carrying 42 000 tons of gas oil and bound for Buenos Aires, according to TankerTrackers.com, an oil shipping online research firm. The Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet said it was “aware of the incident”. UK Maritime…

Sharm el Sheikh: A pledge by G20 leaders, whose countries account for most global CO₂ emissions, to pursue the most ambitious target against global warming breathed new life into fraught UN climate talks in Egypt yesterday. Analysts welcomed the final communique from the G20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia, which comes as negotiators in Egypt are struggling to agree on key issues before COP27 is supposed to end tomorrow. The G20 text promises to “pursue efforts” to curb global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. It also urges all parties to “make progress on loss and damage at COP27, which is being held in Africa”. | AFP…

Istanbul: Turkey has launched a legal investigation into Italian company Ferrero on charges of monopolising the hazelnut market, a local official said yesterday. Ferrero employs more than 1 000 people in Turkey, where it has been sourcing hazelnuts across the country’s Black Sea regions for over three decades. It also produces chocolates and Kinder chocolate eggs. But the company, Turkey’s top hazelnut buyer especially for its Nutella spread, has angered Turkish farmers, who accuse Ferrero of paying meagre sums to them for hazelnuts and then selling its products at much higher prices. Turkey accounts for around 70% of the world’s hazelnut supply. | AFP…

A missile that hit Poland was probably a stray fired by Ukraine’s air defences and not a Russian strike, Poland and Nato said yesterday, easing global concern that the war in Ukraine could spill across the border. Nevertheless, Nato’s chief said that Moscow, not Kyiv was ultimately to blame, for starting the war in the first place and launching the attack that triggered Ukraine’s defences. “This is not Ukraine’s fault. Russia bears ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine,” Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels. Nato ambassadors were holding emergency talks to respond to Tuesday’s blast that killed two people at a grain facility in Poland near the Ukrainian border, the war’s first deadly spillover onto the territory of the Western military alliance. “From the…

THE Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) have set their sights firmly on investigating and prosecuting fraud and corruption that took place at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa). Yesterday, the two law enforcement agencies detailed how they planned to tackle Prasa in the wake of the Zondo Commission recommending an inquiry into the rail agency’s affairs. President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his implementation plan submitted to Parliament last month, said he would like to wait for investigations by SIU and the Hawks before deciding on another inquiry. SIU head Andy Mothibi told Scopa that there was work being done by law enforcement agencies such as the NPA, the ID and the SIU on Prasa. “But to take forward the recommendation of Zondo we will…

DESPITE developmental challenges and pressures of poverty eradication, countries including Brazil, South Africa, India and China - representing the BASIC Group have each highlighted their country’s commitments to lead from the front on climate change actions. This commitment came at a meeting of environmental ministers representing BASIC, held at the 27th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt on Tuesday. The meeting was chaired by Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy, and attended by Minister for the Environment of Brazil, Joaquim Leite, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of the Republic of India Bhupender Yadav, and China Special Envoy for Climate Change XIE Zhenhua, among others. The COP27 conference, they said in a joint statement…

A contractor working at the Camden Power Station was arrested on Tuesday after he was positively linked to an incident of sabotage following intensive investigative work by Eskom teams. Camden Power Station, in Mpumalanga, is a coal-fired power plant operated by Eskom. The perpetrator, who is employed by a maintenance company working at the power station, intentionally removed the oil drain plug from the bearing causing the oil burners to trip repeatedly, Eskom said in a statement. Eskom said this malicious act caused all the oil to drain out from the bearing, damaging the bearing which, in turn, prevented the mills from operating optimally. Camden Unit 4 subsequently tripped after losing all the mills. The incident occurred on Thursday November 10 at approximately 4:54pm. A case of alleged sabotage…

WE ENJOYED a wink of magic at the M for Mandela Moment when the spirit of reconciliation was the spark. Now we’re on the verge of the Z for Zuma Moment when thieves in state capture, VBS bank robbers, asbestos poisoners, Bosasa Bible punchers, Covid mask marauders and a multiplicity tender plunderers, are rounded up and charged. Not forgetting the Nkandla kingpin himself. Running concurrently, another momentous moment is in the offing – the Z for Zille Moment when the feisty fighter marshals the troops from all opposition parties, with the exception of the EEF, whose leaders are too busy appealing jail sentences. In any case, street fighters are unwelcome in what is called Opposition Reconciliation. And obviously she totally ignores the ANC whose leaders, firstly, have been unable to…

NASA launched the most powerful rocket built on a journey to the moon yesterday, in a spectacular blaze of light and sound that marked the start of the space agency’s new flagship programme, Artemis. The 32-storey tall Space Launch System blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, producing a record 39 meganewtons of thrust. “What you have done today will inspire generations to come, thank you!” Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Nasa’s first female launch director, told cheering teammates. Fixed to the rocket’s top was the uncrewed Orion spaceship that will orbit Earth’s nearest neighbour, in a test run for later flights that should see the first woman and first person of colour touch down on lunar soil by the mid-2020s. About two hours after launch, Nasa said the spacecraft…

Kenya’s former president, Uhuru Kenyatta, called yesterday for urgent intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where fighting between the army and M23 rebels has flared again. During a visit to the city of Goma, Kenyatta encountered tens of thousands of people living on roadsides. M23 has staged a major offensive this year, seizing territory and sparking a row between DRC and Rwanda, which DRC accuses of backing the M23. Kigali denies this. Kenyatta was visiting DRC as regional bloc East African Community facilitator and AU peace envoy. His work had been hampered by the crisis in Goma, Kenya’s ministry of foreign affairs said. Kenyatta said rebel groups and their backers had not honoured pledges at peace talks earlier this year. More than 100 armed groups continue to operate across…

Wellington: New Zealand’s Firearms Prohibition Orders came into force yesterday to reduce gun crime in the country. Firearms Prohibition Orders would improve public safety by stopping people whose behaviour and actions represent a high risk of violence from accessing firearms or restricted weapons, the Police Ministry said. The law targets any violent offenders, including gang members. The new legislation gives a judge the power to impose an order lasting 10 years. A gunman killed 51 worshippers in two mosques in Christchurch in 2019, which was the worst terrorist attack in New Zealand history. | AFP…

LONDON: Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service has authorised seven additional charges against Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey for a number of sexual assaults against one man between 2001 and 2004, it said yesterday. The new charges include one of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, and others of indecent and sexual assault. Spacey, 63, was previously accused of four counts of sexual assault by touching, and a charge of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent. Spacey had denied those allegations. In the US last month, he defeated a sexual abuse case against him. | Reuters…

Monday provided the clearest illustration yet of what is more interesting, attractive and newsworthy in South African cricket. Spoiler - it isn’t the Proteas. Despite the novelty of the SA20 League, it was striking how different the scrutiny was between the launch event for that competition - hosted at The Deck hospitality venue adjacent to the Wanderers Stadium - and the announcement of the Proteas Test squad for the series against Australia next month. For the latter just a handful of media accepted the invitation to interview the chairman of selectors Victor Mpitsang and new interim coach Malibongwe Maketa at Cricket South Africa’s Centre of Excellence in Tshwane. In Illovo, meanwhile, the SA20’s commissioner Graeme Smith had to deal with a media scrum as he was backed up against a…

Japan forward Daichi Kamada says his team’s large contingent of Bundesliga players can draw mental strength from knowing they “share the same stage” as first-up World Cup opponents Germany. Japan’s squad for the finals in Qatar includes eight Germany-based players, more than any other national league - including Japan’s first-division J1 League. Nine Japanese players play in the first division of the Bundesliga, seven of whom have been selected in the squad for Qatar. Qatar-bound midfielder Ao Tanaka also plays in Germany, for Fortuna Duesseldorf in the second division. Kamada (26), who has 12 goals in all competitions for Eintracht Frankfurt this season, will be one of Japan’s most important players in Qatar. “There are a lot of Japanese players in the Bundesliga now and I think we’re on an…

The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar kicks off on Sunday when the host nation plays Ecuador in Group A. Twenty-eight days and 63 games later, one of 32 nations will lift the Jules Rimet Trophy. But who should you bet on to win it all? And what are some other smart wagers along the way? We take a look. The Contenders BRAZIL The Selecao are the world’s only five-time World Cup champions, although they haven’t won since 2002. Four of Brazil’s five previous championships have come in tournaments played in neither Europe nor Brazil. That’s a 50% win rate within that sample. And this is one of the deeper Brazilian rosters, built largely with the same players who as Under-23s helped win the 2016 Olympic soccer title in Rio…

Nine-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic will be able to play in next year's tournament after he confirmed yesterday he had been granted a visa to travel. The 35-year-old Serb, the most successful male player in the tournament's history, missed this year's tournament after he was deported over his failure to have a Covid-19 vaccine. Djokovic, the former world No 1, was originally barred from the country until 2025 but that decision has been reversed. "I was very happy to receive the news yesterday," Djokovic, whose deportation dominated the build-up to this year's Australian Open, said after his victory over Andrey Rublev at the ATP Finals in Turin yesterday. "It was a relief obviously knowing what I and people closest to me in my life have been through this year…