Table of contents for 2023-05-19 in Cape Times

BASIC Education Minister Angie Motshekga has said that instead of being condemned, her department should be commended for being courageous for participating in the survey on the reading comprehension of Grade 4 pupils. Motshekga said South Africa, Morocco and Egypt were part of the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls) that found that only 19% of South Africa's Grade 4 pupils can read for meaning. “We are the only three countries on the continent that participated in Pirls. The question is why?” she said. “Why have other people run away from Pirls?” She was responding during a debate on the department’s 2023-24 budget in the National Assembly yesterday. Motshekga was adamant that her department would bounce back and fare better in the study in the future. “We will…

ANC’s claims that load shedding will be over by December disputed ENERGY experts have poured cold water on ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula’s “political speak” that load shedding would be over by December, saying there was still a long way to go before power cuts could be a thing of the past. In an interview with Power to Truth host JJ Tabane on eNCA, Mbalula boldly said: “I know from where I’m seated, from the work that is being done by government and ministers and so on that the load shedding by the end of this year should be something of the past. I can assure you that load shedding will be reversed and it will be dealt with decisively.” The ANC is under pressure from the prospect that this could…

THE Overstrand Municipality has warned residents not to consume the meat of a Bryde’s whale that washed up on a Hermanus beach on Wednesday. This follows pictures and videos circulating on social media of some residents cutting up the mammal soon after it washed ashore. Overstrand municipal manager, Dean O’Neill, warned residents not to eat the meat as it was still unknown why the whale had died. “On Wednesday at around 12.45pm, the Overstrand Municipality’s Environmental Management Department was alerted, through the Overberg Stranding Network, to a whale carcass that was in the process of washing up at Schulphoek Hermanus. “The last report at 4.10pm showed about 30% of the tissue of the whale (was) left. “The Environmental Management Services and Law Enforcement attended the scene, but there was very…

POLICE and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) members and supporters believe the four Department of Correctional Services (DCS) officials charged with the murder of an inmate should be freed as they acted in self defence. They picketed outside the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court yesterday where the four appeared for the murder of inmate Luzuko Maseko. Their case was postponed to June 9. It is alleged that Maseko became aggressive and stabbed an official, prompting the other three to come to his aid as a form of “self defence” and it led to the inmate’s death. DCS spokesperson Candice Van Reenen said the murder occurred in November 2020. “The matter was investigated by the SAPS, as per protocol when an offender dies in custody and subsequently, four officials were charged with murder,”…

AS ONE who watches international news and developments closely, it would be interesting to see what South Africa will be missing out on in the upcoming G7 summit. If the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting is anything to go by, South Africa will not be missing much. Maybe the odd photo opportunity. The G7 summit is scheduled for May 19 to 21 in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. It will be the first G7 summit for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Leaders of the US, Canada, France and Germany will also be present. Russia was expelled from the group, then the G8, in 2014. In 2019, the US-based Council on Foreign Relations opened its article, “Trump Kills the G7’s Legitimacy”, with the words: “The Group…

As artificial intelligence transforms jobs around the world and workers fear for their future, Italy plans to spend nearly $30 million (R580m) to help people boost their digital skills, particularly for positions at risk from automation and technological advances. Regulators and MPs in Europe and elsewhere are grappling with how to handle AI as it becomes more accessible across industries. While experts say the technology will not replace humans any time soon, its rise into the mainstream, including through ChatGPT, has fuelled concerns about the impact on the job market. AI can power robots that help with warehouse inventory, speed up vaccine production and re-create voices, raising questions for a wide range of workers, including grocery store employees and voice actors. In Italy, an array of jobs could be at…

Kathmandu: Two more climbers have died on Mt Everest, expedition organisers said yesterday, bringing the number of deaths on the world’s highest peak this year to seven. The latest fatalities were a 58-year-old Indian woman who had a pacemaker for her heart, and a Nepali member of a team clearing rubbish from the mountain. Suzanne Leopoldina Jesus died in hospital in the Nepalese town of Lukla after the Indian mountaineer was airlifted from base camp due to illness. A Nepalese rubbish collector, part of an annual mountain clean-up campaign, died while descending the mountain slopes. Nepal has issued 478 permits for Everest to foreign climbers this season, which runs until June. | AFP…

Xian: Chinese President Xi Jinping kicked off a summit with Central Asian leaders yesterday, seeking to build regional influence as G7 leaders hold a rival gathering in Japan at the weekend. Held in Xi’an, the historic eastern end of the Silk Road that linked China to Europe through Central Asia, it is the first of its kind since the establishment of formal relations 31 years ago. Beijing says trade with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan reached $70 billion in 2022 and expanded 22% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023. China has invested billions of dollars to tap natural gas reserves in Central Asia, and rail links to Europe. | AFP…

London: Competing claims surfaced yesterday over Prince Harry and his wife Meghan’s purported involvement in a “near catastrophic car chase” with paparazzi in New York. A spokesperson for the couple said that they had endured a “relentless” two-hour pursuit that resulted in “multiple near collisions involving other drivers”. The account of Tuesday’s incident prompted comparisons to circumstances around the Paris car crash in 1997 that killed Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, which the prince blames on paparazzi pursuing her. However, New York police, the city’s mayor and a taxi driver have played down the danger of the reported pursuit. Yesterday, a photographer alleged that the couple’s vehicle entourage were to blame for any danger. He said Harry and Meghan’s driver “wanted to drive fast, cut through lanes”. Police said there…

from page 1 “A combination of load shedding and load curtailment.” Briefing the media yesterday, Eskom Interim Group CEO Calib Cassiem said despite several positive developments to address Eskom’s challenges, load shedding has intensified with a devastating impact on the economy. “The winter outlook indicates an increased risk of supply shortfall against expected demand, with our worst-case scenario indicating that load shedding could intensify to stage 8, if our interventions are not successful.” The unavailability of Kusile units 1, 2 and 3 as well as Koeberg unit 1 has removed 3 080 MW of capacity from the power system for winter 2023. This is equivalent to 3 stages of load shedding. According to Eskom, the outlook for the next three years shows Koeberg Unit 1, operational by September 2023. While…

A FORMER Absa Bank employee currently serving four years behind bars for fraud and corruption, will have to wait to hear her fate as judgment has been reserved in the Constitutional Court in her application for leave to appeal. A full Bench heard Natasha Liebenberg’s application against the judgment and order of the High Court of South Africa, Northern Cape Division, Kimberley where she was found guilty on 266 criminal charges. The banking institution opposed her application for leave to appeal. The Kimberley Magistrate’s Court convicted Liebenberg of 86 counts of fraud, 85 counts of forgery, 85 counts of uttering and 10 counts of theft after she unlawfully, with the intent to defraud Absa Bank, forged signatures of beneficiaries and withdrew funds without following proper procedures. Liebenberg was in the…

Truth to Power André de Ruyter Loot.co.za (R373) Penguin Random House When former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter took over the reins in January 2020, he quickly realised why it was considered the toughest job in South Africa. Aside from neglected equipment, ageing power stations and an eroded skills base, he discovered that Eskom was crippled by corruption on a staggering scale. Fake fuel oil deliveries at just one power station cost Eskom R100 million per month; knee pads retailing for R150 a pair were purchased for R80 000; equipment worth billions of rand that was supposedly housed in the company’s storerooms was missing. Faced with police inaction, he was compelled to plunge into a world that was foreign to him – a world of spies and safe houses, of…

Publishing house, Penguin Random House (PRH), has instructed its attorneys to send cease and desist letters to distributors of the pirated eBook of Truth to Power by André de Ruyter. This comes after PRH warned the public against the illegal distribution of the pirated PDF copy that has been shared via WhatsApp, earlier this week. In a statement, PRH said: “PRH does not wish to take legal action against individual members of the public, but the prevalence of this practice, not only in respect of this book but also in respect of others, is becoming so widespread that it leaves PRH with no choice. Illegal copies of the book are unfortunately still being distributed, particularly on WhatsApp groups and other social media channels, despite PRH’s earlier warning that it has…

Tens of thousands of Israeli nationalists marched through the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem’s walled Old City yesterday in an annual event that has drawn condemnation from the Palestinians and stirred fears of renewed violence. The parade is the main celebration on Jerusalem Day, when Israel marks its capture of Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. The event has increasingly become a show of force for Jewish nationalists and, for Palestinians, a blatant provocation meant to undermine their ties to the city. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the event “a splendid day on which to celebrate our return to our eternal capital”. But just days after the end of the latest bout of cross-border fire with Gaza, the march drew fears of a repeat round of conflict with Hamas and…

An eight-year-old migrant girl died in US custody in Texas this week, a tragedy that tempered news of a sharp drop in attempted illegal crossings of the southern US border. The girl died in Harlingen, a Texas border city near the Gulf of Mexico. “The child and her family were in custody at the Harlingen Station where she experienced a medical emergency,” US Customs and Border Protection said. “Emergency Medical Services were called to the station and transported her to the local hospital where she was pronounced dead.” An investigation was opened into the death. The agency did not give the girl’s identity or nationality. A 17-year-old Honduran boy who arrived in the US without a parent or guardian died last week in government custody in Safety Harbor, Florida.…

Moscow: Russia said yesterday that its forces hit all targets in a series of strikes on Ukraine overnight, but Kyiv said it had downed all, but one of 30 missiles. “All assigned targets have been destroyed,” the Russian defence ministry said, adding that its forces hit “a significant stock of weapons and ammunition of the Ukrainian armed forces”. Russia did not specify which targets had been hit, only saying it aimed at “large depots of foreign weapons and equipment, as well as enemy reserves”. Ukraine said that Russian forces had launched 30 cruise missiles from land, sea and air, targeting several regions and killing one person in the southern port city of Odessa. | AFP…

Mexico City: Mexican authorities have rescued around 40 migrants who were briefly kidnapped this week while traveling on a bus, officials said yesterday. Thousands of migrants fleeing violence and poverty in their countries risk abduction and exploitation at the hands of criminal gangs while crossing Mexico on the way to the US border. These 40-odd people and two drivers were abducted Monday while traveling on a highway in north-eastern Mexico. Nine others from the same group – which set off from southern Mexico near the Guatemalan border – were rescued after managing to flee, officials said.| AFP…

THE SHARE price of Purple Group, the owner of the EasyEquities trading platform, fell nearly 13% yesterday after it announced that it had received JSE approval to proceed with a R150 million rights offer. The share traded at R1.05 around midday, after falling consistently from R2.42 that it traded at a year before on the same day. It closed 8.47% lower at R1.08 on the JSE yesterday. CEO Charles Savage said in a telephone interview that he was happy the planned rights offer – to raise R105m for Purple Group and R45m for EasyEquities – had been well received by shareholders, some of whom had chosen to partially underwrite the offer. “We made the offer at a good discount to the share price. We chose to give the benefits…

THE delays in scheduling snap debates on urgent matters of national importance came under scrutiny in Parliament yesterday. This as it emerged in the programme committee that time had not been found for the urgent debate on the failed extradition of persons implicated in corruption, sponsored by GOOD party MP Brett Herron, due to a packed programme. National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula agreed to Herron’s request that was submitted on April 11, days after South Africans were informed that the United Arab Emirates had rejected the country’s request to surrender Atul and Rajesh Gupta to stand trial for state capture. Herron had proposed the debate on “the failure of the government to extradite persons implicated in corruption, as demonstrated by the recent case in the UAE and the consequences thereof”.…

Former Kannaland municipal manager Keith Joordan has justified his sharing of a video of a white man putting his head in a bag of charcoal to blacken his face on social media, saying he did so to “condemn” such racism. The video, captioned “getting ready for my new job interview”, has been shared widely on social media, and has drawn sharp criticism for its message. The EFF in the Western Cape has since called on the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to probe the matter. But Jordaan said he simply shared the video on his WhatsApp status to condemn it and had no knowledge where it originated from. Jordaan said he did not approve of the video, nor did he distribute it. “The video is a good example of…

THE City has accused Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga of “deliberately” misleading Parliament about the Central Line relocation project after the municipality was blamed for relocation delays. Chikunga told a standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) briefing that their work was frustrated on the Central Line. “The Constitution gives powers to different spheres of government and they go with obligations to work with one another to carry out tasks. In this case, housing is shared by the national Department of Human Settlements, provincial department and the City to ensure services are provided. The issue around Project Bekela is an indication of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA frustration. Prasa is getting into mandates which are not theirs.” She said that while Prasa’s mandate was to run the public rail system, it…

Life B Overcoming Double Depression Bethanne Patrick Loot.co.za (R649) Counterpoint While reading Bethanne Patrick’s memoir, Life B, I happened to receive an email message from a woman I don’t know. She contacted me because she had read some of what I’ve written about my lifelong challenges with clinical depression. She told me that she too had major depression disorder. Patrick’s story is a different kind of depression story. In this slim volume, Patrick, a book critic, author and host of the Missing Pages reveals her lifelong challenge with depression. It began, she writes, as a fog that descended in her early teens and has, in the many decades since, never abated. She describes her childhood as being “sad and maladjusted … alternately sleeping and weeping”. It is painful reading, full…

Protracted inaction in the wake of the Zondo Commission does not augur well THE eye of a hurricane can be astonishingly tranquil – an ominous serenity that presages a collision with another wall of storm. There is something of that eeriness about the current lull in implementing the 11 recommendations for Parliament made by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo in the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture reports. None will be implemented by May 23, as Parliament will probably miss its self-imposed target. The wind dropped last November after the National Assembly’s rules committee accepted President Cyril Ramaphosa’s implementation plan for the recommendations. Still, Parliament delayed the departure date by setting a deadline of May 23, and went into recess. In February, MPs came to Cape Town…

Both sides fighting in Sudan are targeting doctors and activists and silencing civilian voices seeking to document war crimes and provide services in the face of social collapse, their colleagues said this week. War engulfed the African nation on April 14 and shows little sign of abating after more than 1 million people fled their homes. The military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have pledged to respect cease-fires and humanitarian law, only to break those promises within minutes. Each side blames the other for sparking and continuing hostilities. Many Sudanese resist calling the conflict a civil war, pointing out that neither side enjoys wide public support. Instead, they describe it as a naked power struggle between the two men who jointly directed a 2021 coup against a civilian-military…

Floods that killed 11 people in Italy’s northern Emilia-Romagna region caused billions of euros’ worth of damage and hit agriculture particularly hard, the regional governor said yesterday. Torrential rains this week devastated the eastern side of the region, Romagna, with up to 300 landslides, 23 overflowing rivers, some 400 roads damaged or destroyed, and 42 flooded municipalities. According to the Coldiretti agricultural association, more than 5 000 farms were left under water in the region, which includes a so-called Fruit Valley, as well as corn and grain fields. The government has promised an extra 20 million euros (about R427) in emergency aid, on top of the 10 million euros allocated in response to previous floods two weeks ago, which killed at least two people. At least 10 000 people were…

ANKARA: Tayyip Erdogan’s challenger in Türkiye’s presidential race sharpened his tone on migrants yesterday, vowing to send all migrants back to their countries once elected in a May 28 run-off vote. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the candidate of a six-party opposition alliance, won 45% support in Sunday’s vote while Erdogan got 49.5%, falling just short of the majority needed to avoid a run-off vote. A third candidate, Sinan Ogan, a nationalist politician endorsed by an anti-refugee party obtained 5.2%. Kilicdaroglu said: “Erdogan, you have deliberately allowed 10 million refugees to Turkey.” Turkey hosts the world’s largest refugee population of around 4 million. | Reuters…

SAN FRANCISCO: Elon Musk defended his remarks accusing Holocaust survivor and liberal donor George Soros of trying to weaken human civilisation after the Israeli government condemned his rhetoric as antisemitic. “I’ll say what I want to say, and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it,” the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said. Musk used the social media platform he owns, Twitter, to compare Soros, 92, to a Marvel supervillain who also survived the Holocaust, underlining theories that the Hungarian American Jew uses his billions to undermine society. | Washington Post…