Table of contents for 2023-12-19 in Cape Times

THE government has taken a tough stance against South Africans found to be working with the Israeli forces in the fight against Palestine. In a statement yesterday, the government issued a stern warning against those who want to join the war currently under way in Gaza, which has resulted in the death of more than 10 000 children and women. It said that South African citizens and permanent residents who have reportedly joined the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in the Gaza conflict and other occupied Palestinian territories will be held liable for prosecution in South Africa. “The South African government is gravely concerned by reports that some South African citizens and permanent residents have joined or are considering joining the IDF in the war in Gaza and the other occupied…

THE black-owned Sekunjalo group will now turn to the country’s apex court in its bid to challenge a Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruling which effectively gives Nedbank permission to shut its banking accounts, a move that could be disastrous for thousands of Sekunjalo- related companies’ employees. The SCA handed down judgment yesterday in a case where Nedbank had challenged an Equality Court interim interdict preventing it from closing any of the company’s bank accounts, and reopening those already closed, until the conclusion of the main Equality Court case in Sekunjalo’s claims of discrimination against it. The Equality Court had found that Nedbank had discriminated against Sekunjalo with Judge Mokgoatji Dolamo saying he was satisfied that Sekunjalo had established a prima facie case that it has been unfairly discriminated against.…

Most irregular expenditure caused by entity’s failure to adhere to student funding conditions AUDITOR-GENERAL Tsakani Maluleke has laid bare the messy state of affairs of the beleaguered National Student Financial Aid Scheme’s (NSFAS) finances, which obtained an adverse audit opinion for 2021/22. Her audit outcome deals another blow to the entity, which was forced to review the controversial direct payment of student allowances, suspend its chief executive Andile Nongogo and the resignation of senior staff including HR and IT heads. Maluleke said NSFAS did not reliably present assets and liabilities, linked to higher education institutions, in accordance with Generally Recognised Accounting Practice (GRAP). “The financial statements do not present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the NSFAS as at March 31, 2022, and its financial performance and…

ROAD Accident Fund (RAF) CEO Collins Letsoalo stands accused of tarnishing the image of the legal profession. He, in turn, accused the Legal Practice Council of being a “gentlemen and ladies’ club that protects instead of regulating lawyers”. At the weekend, the president of the Law Society of South Africa, Eunice Masipa, said: “It is of concern that these unfortunate statements by Mr Letsoalo tarnish the image of the profession and undermine the integrity of the Legal Practice Council.” Her comments were sparked by a radio and television interview earlier this month with Letsoalo, in which he spoke about the role of the Legal Practice Council in disciplining legal practitioners and ridding the profession of “corrupt and thieving lawyers”. Masipa said Letsoalo had made “sweeping and unfounded” statements pertaining to…

SOUTH African family business Takis Biltong, which also sells other snacks, scored a major victory over a Mexican company selling tortilla chips and other snacks, after the Mexican company used the word “Takis” for its products. The legal battle over the trademark Takis Biltong and Takis Fuego (used by the Mexican company) have been raging for years. Takis Biltong said consumers could confuse its product with Takis Fuego, although it did not sell exactly the same products. Grupo Bimbo, the Mexican company trades in many countries, including South Africa, and is the proprietor of the mark “Takis Fuego”. It was registered in South Africa in 2012 and covers several goods, among them corn flour chips, wheat flour chips, corn extruded, wheat extruded and pop corns. Takis Biltong sells biltong and…

Ex-president’s poke-in-the-eye move has reinforced the launch of uMkhonto weSizwe party THE notion that millions of enthusiastic voters will return the ANC to power for a sixth consecutive term has become more snigger-worthy. South Africa goes to the polls in 2024. That is the core explanation for the evaporation of some party loyalists’ faith in President Cyril Ramaphosa and the strengthening of former president Jacob Zuma’s authority over some of the ANC splinter groups determined to challenge the current leadership in the polls. Achieving party unity was not universally regarded as a given when the Ramaphosa party presidency began. Back in 2017, it was possible to find many ANC optimists able to muster a case that the party renewal crusade touted in the Nasrec conference would heal the divisions by…

US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Israel yesterday of trying to starve Palestinians in Gaza during its war with Hamas, a charge Israel said came from an “anti-Semitic” group that did not warrant an answer. With no let-up in the bombardment and siege of the densely-populated enclave, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin was the latest US official to head to Israel to press its ally to transition from high-intensity warfare. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to carry on until “absolute victory” despite foreign pressure to ease up in Gaza, where buildings lie in ruins, hunger is rife, and health authorities say around 19 000 Palestinians have been killed. Despite a rising global outcry over the toll among Gaza’s civilians, who have nowhere to go, Israel is bent on eliminating…

Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen have stepped up attacks on vessels in the Red Sea to show their support for Palestinian Islamist group Hamas fighting Israel in Gaza. The attacks, targeting a route that allows East-West trade, especially of oil, to use the Suez Canal to save the time and expense of circumnavigating Africa, have pushed some shipping companies to re-route vessels to avoid the area. Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority (SCA) announced it was closely monitoring the impacts of military tensions in the Red Sea, following major carriers taking alternative routes due to safety concerns. SCA chairperson Osama Rabie said maritime traffic was normal in the canal connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. He added that the SCA was closely evaluating the impact of certain shipping lines temporarily shifting…

PARIS: French MPs and senators prepared to hammer out a compromise over a beleaguered immigration bill yesterday as President Emmanual Macron’s government hoped to salvage it. French authorities have been seeking to push through legislation to harden France’s immigration law but the right-wing and left-wing opposition last week voted down the draft law. The left wants the bill dropped, while the right say it does not go far enough. The government, which does not have a majority in parliament, has been locked in talks with the opposition to rescue the bill. France’s migrant population is estimated at 5.1 million with up to 700 000 illegal immigrants. | AFP…

Manila: A man went missing and thousands of people in the Philippines were sheltering in evacuation centres yesterday as Tropical Storm Jelawat hit the southern island of Mindanao, causing flooding and power cuts. The storm weakened as it raked across Mindanao after making landfall in the morning, but the state weather service said the threat of floods and landslides remained. Police in Manay municipality, where Jelawat made landfall, reported one man missing at the swollen Casaoman River that bisects the town of about 40 000 people. A total of 11 729 residents had been evacuated from Mindanao ahead of landfall as a precaution. | AFP…

STANDING as a beacon of hope for his Breede Valley community, ward councillor Julian Kritzinger obtained his second doctorate earlier this month and now holds two PhDs and two Master of Laws degrees. Kritzinger, 40, said his thesis on Company Law focused on how artificial intelligence (AI) should be regulated. He argues that directors have a duty of care to enhance their companies’ cybersecurity and to protect them from cyber breaches to help make South African companies more cyber-resilient. The accolade was bestowed on him at a special graduation ceremony held at UCT. Kritzinger said: “After I finished matric in 2001, I started my academic career with the personal goal of one day holding a double-master, double-doctor in law. After having been a full-time professional student for 22 years,…

WHILE national government and City assessments that will ensure more than 700 Dunoon community members who have been left destitute receive building materials are under way, some residents have started rebuilding with their damaged materials. A devastating fire swept through Ethembeni informal settlement on Saturday destroying 258 shacks and seven formal houses. A total of 702 residents are without a roof over their heads, while a man sustained burn wounds and was transported to a nearby medical facility. City Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said they were notified at around 5.30am of shacks burning in Ngena Street. “Due to the extent of the incident, a total of 14 firefighting resources were on scene with over 50 staff battling the blaze. At around 9.45am, the fire was contained and…

WHAT was supposed to be an “inclusive and solutions” showpiece in that bastion of bling bling, COP28 in Dubai, far from being radical in tackling climate and carbon change, merely served to procrastinate the status quo by metamorphosing into a Davos clone, more akin to a COOP28 (Conference of the Oil Parties). And the oil, gas and coal delegates, lobbyists, apologists and their supporters stridently out in full force, strutting their make-believe stuff in Dubai by leveraging even the face- saving compromise of including the words “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems”, in the final communiqué, instead of the required “phasing out fossil fuels”, as a “historic” or “landmark” achievement in which even the self-styled Western gatekeepers of “independent” media, including the BBC, seem to be eulogising and…

Stranded residents sheltered on a hospital roof as flash floods swamped north-eastern Australia yesterday, with raging waters severing roads and flushing crocodiles into towns. Rescue teams evacuated more than 300 people overnight, police said, and military helicopters helped inundated areas cut off by the floods. Damage was reported along an expanse of coastline that stretched about 400km across northern Queensland state. Resort manager Cassie Hounslow said entire houses were submerged in Mossman, a small inland town at the foot of the heritage-listed Daintree rainforest. “Houses have gone under; some houses are fully engulfed.” Tumbling boulders triggered by a landslide had “smashed one of the roads”, Hounslow said, and a major highway out of Mossman was “pretty much buggered”, she said. With another deluge expected yesterday, Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick said…

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has swept to a third, six-year term as Egypt’s president, winning 89.6% of votes in an election in which he faced no serious challengers, the National Election Authority said yesterday. The election took place as Egypt struggles with a slow-burning economic crisis and tries to manage the risk of spillover from the war in Gaza, which borders Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Some voters said the Gaza conflict had encouraged them to vote for Sisi, who has long presented himself as a bulwark of stability in a volatile region – with Gulf and Western allies providing financial support to his government. Voting in Egypt was held from December 10-12. Turnout was at 66.8% – above the 41% recorded at the last presidential election in 2018. The most prominent potential…

Berlin: Thousands of farmers descended on central Berlin with their tractors yesterday to protest against planned cuts to agricultural subsidies. Police said 6 600 people had joined the demonstration, while the German Farmers’ Association (DBV) put the number at between 8 000 and 10 000. Perks for farmers including tax breaks on diesel used by agricultural heavy vehicles are set to be scrapped under measures announced last week after a shock court ruling upended the government’s spending plans. The protesters blocked one of the main roads through central Berlin near the Brandenburg Gate, dumping manure on the road. | AFP…

MOSCOW: Two court hearings for jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny that were due to take place yesterday have been postponed until January, court filings showed. Navalny’s allies, who had been preparing for his transfer to a “special regime” colony, the harshest grade in Russia’s prison system, say he has not been seen by his lawyers since December 6 and have raised the alarm about his whereabouts. Russia’s prison service said Navalny moved to a new prison in another part of the country. | Reuters…

Holders Manchester City will take on FC Copenhagen in the last 16 of the Champions League, while Spanish heavyweights Barcelona will face Napoli as yesterday’s draw in Nyon threw up a few standout encounters. Copenhagen, who twice met City’s rivals Manchester United in the group stage of the competition, will travel to Manchester again to face Pep Guardiola’s side. The Danish team will have their work cut out for them against the champions, who won all six of their group stage matches and are on an unbeaten run of 20 games in European football. Either Serie A champions Napoli or LaLiga champions Barcelona will be eliminated, as they have been pitted against each other. Another clash between Italian and Spanish sides will see last year’s finalists Inter Milan take on…

opposition parties have rejected national Treasury’s consideration of withdrawing half its contingency reserves to reduce the government’s debt and fund public-sector salaries. However, trade union Cosatu welcomed the move to ease the debt on state-owned enterprises. Dr Dion George, DA spokesperson on finance, said the government wants to access a portion of the funds held by the Reserve Bank. “The reason is that the government has run out of money and wants to pay debt and fund public sector salaries. “Our economy is not growing, therefore there is not enough revenue to pay for the excessive spending by the government.” Government spending on the public sector wage bill continues unabated, George said. “The government said they would restrain that spending, but it has not happened. That number keeps going up…

THE ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has come out strongly against the actions of former president Jacob Zuma, describing his announcement that he will vote for a new party as tantamount to “resigning” from the ANC. The party and its alliance partners held a joint briefing yesterday which had been preceded by a meeting said to have been robust. The ANC suffered a massive setback this past weekend when Zuma announced that he will not be voting for, or campaigning, for the party and will in fact vote for a new party called uMkhonto weSizwe. The ANC, which for the first time since it came to power is facing a real challenge to its dominance and state control, had hoped that Zuma would campaign for it in the next general election. Political…

DEPRESSION and the increase in financial stress has led to an increase in suicides, especially over the festive season. This is according to the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag) and clinical psychologists. They were responding to a study, “Look after your mental health during the holidays”, by Discovery, which pointed to an increase in suicides over the festive period. The study said there was an 11% increase in suicides in December and 9% increase in January in recent years. It said 33% of South Africans had experienced depression since Covid-19. “Changes in social activities and the possible influence of the festive season may increase the risk of suicide. “Some people might be experiencing mental health problems for the first time. Others with existing mental health problems might have…

Each year, Valerie Oliphant, a resident of Manenberg, gathers every available cent and, with the help of generous Samaritans, creates a special Christmas experience for underprivileged children in her community. It’s a day designed to offer respite from the challenges of gang violence and fear, allowing these children to embrace the joy of childhood during the festive season. The area has been plagued by gang violence in recent months with several fatalities and serious injuries, including the death of a one-year-old girl struck by a stray bullet. Rival gangs also engaged in a spree of violence in October, shooting eight people within a span of six hours. To turn things around for the children, residents, like Olifant try to inject positivity into their lives through food and fun. This is…

The National Department of Health has deployed more than 1 540 ambulances across the country’s major routes, strategic points, and hot spots to accelerate a turnaround time for emergency medical response over the festive season. This comes as Western Cape traffic officials have noted an increase in drunk drivers and road accidents with 55 people killed in 45 crashes in the province since December 1. Health Department spokesperson Foster Mohale said the number of ambulances will be complemented by private sector ambulances as part of existing service level agreements to beef up EMS to ensure quick response to major accidents and to prevent loss of lives from accidents. Mohale urged the public to allow health workers, especially nurses and paramedics, to perform their lifesaving duties without fear of verbal and…

with the festive season in full swing, the air is filled with excitement, celebration and the promise of joy. However, behind the holiday cheer lies a darker reality that often goes unnoticed. A recent study by Discovery, titled “Look after your mental Health during the holidays”, has shed light on a disturbing trend – an 11% increase in suicides in December and a 9% increase in January in recent years. The stark connection between depression, financial stress and the spike in suicides during this period is undeniable. The study reveals that a staggering 33% of South Africans have experienced depression since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The economic fallout from the pandemic has exacerbated financial stress, creating a perfect storm for mental health challenges. In the face of the…

North Korea yesterday test-fired its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile that has the potential to reach the US, extending a record-breaking number of weapons tests this year and triggering further international condemnation. South Korea said the North fired an ICBM that used solid fuel, which makes missiles easier to transport and faster to fire than liquid-fuelled versions. Yesterday’s launch was the third time the North had tested a solid-fuel ICBM, after launches in April and July, which analysts said signalled consistent efforts to improve the technology. North Korea had said the previous two were “Hwasong-18” missiles but did not comment on yesterday’s launch. The US, South Korea and Japan all quickly condemned the missile test, stating it was in breach of UN Security Council resolutions and would make the Korean…

TEHRAN: A hacking group that Iran accuses of having links to Israel claimed it carried out cyberattacks that disrupted services at petrol stations across Iran yesterday. Oil Minister Javad Owji earlier said services had been disrupted at about 70% of Iran’s petrol stations and that outside interference was a possible cause. Iran’s state TV news said the Predatory Sparrow group claimed it was behind the disruption. Iran’s civil defence agency, in charge of cybersecurity, said it was still investigating all possible causes for the disruptions. Iranian state media said the hackers had in the past claimed cyberattacks against Iranian petrol stations, rail networks and steel factories. | Reuters…

London: Green campaigners yesterday launched legal action against the UK government after it authorised oil and gas production in the country’s largest undeveloped field. Uplift and Greenpeace said they were mounting separate legal challenges to prevent development of the Rosebank field in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland. Britain’s Conservative government led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in September approved the multi-billion-dollar project operated by Norwegian energy producer Equinor and Ithaca Energy, a subsidiary of Israeli group Delek. Uplift and Greenpeace want a judicial review of the decision. | AFP…

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister, Imran Khan, whose party isn’t allowed to hold public rallies, used an audio clip generated by artificial intelligence (AI) at the weekend to address a virtual rally. The audio clip, marred by internet disruptions, was played over the AI-generated image which appears to be speaking, during an internet rally of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. It drew more than 1.4 million views on YouTube and was attended live by tens of thousands on other social media platforms. Khan’s speech was generated from a written version he had approved from prison, said his party, which faces a state-backed crackdown on physical gatherings, while its leader is blacked out of media. Khan urged supporters to turn out in large numbers at general elections set for February 8.…

The Stormers’ English import, Ben Loader, could be out of the big SA derby in Cape Town this weekend because of an injury he picked up after starring in the defeat of La Rochelle at the weekend. The 25-year-old newcomer has looked dangerous for the Cape team over the past fortnight and they would love to have him available on Saturday as they bid to defeat the Bulls for the seventh game in a row. “Ben was great at Welford Road against Leicester and he was great against La Rochelle,” Dobson said of the winger, who is of Cameroonian descent. “I think he suits our game model. “We have not yet hit our proper flow and when we do, Ben will profit from that. Unfortunately, it looks like he has…

It was a year of oscillating fortunes on the domestic front for SA rugby. Here, we wrap up 2023. BULLS | Ashfak Mohamed URC: Quarter-finalists; EPCR Champions Cup: Last 16; Currie Cup: Semi-finalists The Bulls flattered, only to deceive by being knocked out in the play-offs of all three competitions they participated in last season. After a terrible end to 2022, the Bulls recovered to beat the Dragons away and Exeter at home, only to be knocked out of the Champions Cup by Antoine Dupont’s Toulouse in France. They even lost to the Lions at Loftus Versfeld and suffered their sixth defeat in a row to the Stormers in the URC quarter-final. Bulls coach Jake White admitted ahead of the new season that he overplayed some stalwarts and didn’t build…

South Africa’s premier domestic competition, the Currie Cup, lost some further shine as it battled to remain relevant in the sport’s ever-changing landscape. With the four big franchises and their top players taking part in the URC, eventual champions the Cheetahs, the Pumas, the Griquas, and the Sharks dominated the tournament. The Sharks, thanks to their coaching staff, managed an unbeaten streak in the competition that would have been the envy of the rest of the URC franchises. But it was always going to be a race for top honours between the Cheetahs and the defending champions, the Pumas. They’ve been the two sides who have arguably been the most consistent in the competition since South Africa’s franchises joined international European club rugby two years ago. It came as no…

The biggest concern for the Sharks’ coaching staff on Sunday night must have been the humbling manner in which their forwards were blown off the park by their hungrier Cheetahs counterparts in the first half of the 32-19 defeat in Bloemfontein. It was evident from the first whistle that the men in orange wanted it more and that is damning because John Plumtree would have preached about the importance of a strong start all week. Yet he was to see a repeat of what happened against the Bulls two weeks previously. The Sharks have not won an away game this season and it will take a brave Sharks fan to back them in their next game, which is away to the Stormers at the end of the year. They have…