Table of contents for 2024-01-22 in Cape Times

Political parties have called for urgent intervention and tough action against municipal water authorities that are not doing regular water testing. This comes after the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) revealed in a press conference on Friday, that 14 water authorities in municipalities across South Africa did not provide any data on water testing for the 2021/2022 financial year. Leon Basson, DA Shadow Minister of Water and Sanitation said that it was critical that all water authorities adhere to legislation in testing the quality of drinking water. “Government and DWS cannot allow these municipalities to continue to supply untested drinking water to communities.” Basson added that the DA will support the change in legislation to allow DWS to withdraw a licence if the water authority does not adhere to…

Inability to settle outstanding allowances could impact registration, warn MPs, students THE failure by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to settle all outstanding allowances could have a ripple effect on student registration in 2024, the portfolio committee on higher education has warned. Despite its self-imposed deadline to pay all 20 000 outstanding allowances by January 15, NSFAS only settled 9 128 allowances and blamed universities for delays in the submission of registration data for the remaining students. With the registration process already under way, the portfolio committee on higher education has expressed concern at NSFAS’s inability to meet its obligations. MPs serving on the committee will now be conducting oversight visits to assess the readiness of tertiary institutions. “The committee is fully aware of and gravely…

GAUTENG Premier Panyaza Lesufi, in the Cape Times of January 19, lamenting the fact that South Africa has two matric exam systems, refers. The article also asserts that the rich have an advantage over the poor in terms of educational facilities, resulting in less-than-excellent results. He calls for the merging of the two systems “for the promotion of equality”. The article seems to indicate that poor people are tied to a public school system which cannot produce excellence equal to that of the IEB schools. This debate confirms the notion that public education (and health services) tend to be lacking the quality of private institutions. One accepts that users of the private institutions pay more to receive better. But is this acceptable? The dual system is by its very…

THE Western Cape’s quest for independence is doomed to failure. First, Section 235 of the Constitution does not state that the people of South Africa must recognise the right of self-determination. All it says is that the people of South Africa are not precluded from recognising the right of self-determination. The exact wording is: The right of the South African people as a whole to self-determination, as manifested in this Constitution, does not preclude, within the framework of this right, recognition of the right of self-determination of any community sharing a common cultural and language heritage, within a territorial entity in the Republic or in any other way, determined by national legislation. In other words, the people of South Africa may give a greater degree of independence to areas like…

The Gaza crisis is impacting women and girls at unprecedented levels with loss of life and catastrophic levels of humanitarian needs, according to UN Women. At least 24 620 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, about 16 000 of whom were women or children. The number of people killed has tripled the total of the previous 15 years combined. And the demographic percentage has been shifted: around 70% of people killed in Gaza are today estimated to be women and children, including two mothers per hour killed since the beginning of the crisis. “We have seen evidence once more that women and children are the first victims of conflict and that our duty to seek peace is a duty to them. We are failing them. That failure, and the generational…

The Legal Practice Council’s (LPC) decision to restrict its entrance exams for candidate lawyers to English starting this year is a linguistic human rights violation. This was according to the the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), which has now requested that the decision be reviewed or scrapped. According to the council, in a notice issued last month they resolved that, from the first sitting of the exams in 2024, all exams will be offered in English only. “This includes the competency-based examinations for candidate attorneys and pupils, the conveyancing, and notarial practice examinations. This is in line with the LPC-approved language policy, which was approved and adopted by council on November 20, 2020,” the LPC said. It believed the decision was in line with English being the only language…

THE alarming state of affairs at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) should be enough reason for the entire board, management and Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande to be replaced by people with enough energy to turn things around. But because the bar is so low, Nzimande et al will find and use each and every trick in the book to avoid scrutiny for the obvious failures hurting not only the functioning of that entity, but the very people they are supposed to service: poor students. That NSFAS failed to meet its self-imposed deadline of January 15 to settle the allowances of about 20 000 students who it failed to pay last year and had to write exams on empty stomachs is a story that many of our readers…

US Vice-President Kamala Harris will start a nationwide tour today in Wisconsin, a swing state, to preserve “reproductive freedoms” threatened by calls of restriction from Republicans. The Biden re-election campaign is putting abortion rights centre stage in a bid to galvanise the party base, and the vice-president, the administration’s most forceful campaigner on this issue, will be in the lead. Harris will be joined by US President Joe Biden tomorrow at a campaign event in Virginia, another swing state where the party won both state legislatures with abortion as a key issue. They will be joined by their spouses making it the first time they will share a stage after Biden announced his re-election bid last April. Harris will carry on her nationwide tour from there. “Extremists across our country…

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his willingness to visit North Korea, an official statement said yesterday. North Korea Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui had paid an official visit to Russia from Monday to Wednesday at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and held strategic talks, the official Korean Central News Agency said. The two countries had reached a consensus on various regional and international issues, including the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, North Korea said. | IANS…

Yanshanpu: Authorities in central China’s Henan Province were yesterday looking into the cause of a night-time fire that killed 13 schoolchildren as they slept in a dormitory. The inferno, which took place at the Yingcai School in Yanshanpu village, was reported to the local fire department on Friday and was put out around 40 minutes later. Thirteen pupils died in the accident, while one other person suffered injuries. Several windows on the side of the school were broken. The father of a boy who died in the fire said that blood samples had been taken from parents to compare their DNA with the victims. A teacher said that all the victims were from the same third-grade class. | AFP…

LONDON: The UK was taking threats of foreign interference in its elections expected later this year “very seriously”, defence minister Grant Shapps said yesterday after a warning from a counter-terrorism official. Counter-terrorism bodies and other institutions would “be looking very carefully at that”, he said. UK counter-terrorism chief Matt Jukes said that the espionage threat from foreign states such as China, Russia and Iran was greater now than it has been “since the days of the cold war”. He said police had set up a new unit to counter the threats of interference ahead of the election, which is expected to be called later this year. | AFP…

ANC heavyweights from KwaZulu-Natal, including Sbu Ndebele and Sihle Zikalala, who once worked closely with former President Jacob Zuma, are now taking him on as he campaigns vigorously for the newly formed MK Party. Ndebele, the ambassador to India and Zikalala, a current NEC member, held a wreath laying ceremony for Struggle veterans in Ndwedwe, north of Durban, yesterday just days after Bheki Cele and Senzo Mchunu addressed Zuma’s support for a rival party. ANC insiders in the province said it was the “automatic duty” of these NEC members to defend the party and to take on Zuma. The former president has criticised ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa and said he would campaign and vote for the MK Party in the upcoming elections. Ndebele, the former KZN Premier and an election…

WHILE my personal view is that Teeger should have avoided inflammatory remarks in the current circumstances, it has taken a series of false steps before we reach the final “waltz”! And, yes, of course it’s about the money. CSA has made claims that he was demoted for security reasons. To defuse the volatile political situation. A clothing company, that sponsors U-19 cricket has threatened to withdraw if he (Teeger) remains in the team. So much for ethics and honesty. And sportsmanship. Well done again, Cricket SA.…

SOUTH Africa’s genocide case against Israel at International Court of Justice (ICJ), in my view is genocide by attrition. This occurs when a group of people are stripped of their human rights, political, civil and economic. This coercion leads to the deprivation of conditions essential for maintaining health, thereby producing mass death. History has proven that no crime matches genocide in the moral opprobrium that it generates. This gruesome act constitutes a criminal intent to destroy or cripple permanently a human group, acts of genocide that stuns the collective conscience of the global community perhaps like no other. On December 11, 1948, the UN General Assembly passed the following resolution condemning genocide as a crime: “Genocide is a denial of the right of existence of entire human groups, as homicide…

THE CITY is readying for a legal battle as nearly 100 storage containers were not removed from the Riverview Church of Christ premises in Lakeside. The church had until January 19 to remove the storage containers after the City slapped it with compliance notices. The containers drew outrage from residents opposed to an alleged lease agreement signed between the storage company and the church. Deputy mayor and Mayco member for spatial planning and environment, Eddie Andrews yesterday said: “The City is in the process of instituting litigation and cannot comment until this process has been concluded. We can confirm that containers are still on the site.” Previously, the City confirmed that it had served a notice in terms of Section 126 of the Municipal Planning By-law on the owner…

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry yesterday said the death toll in the war-torn Palestinian territory breached 25 000 as Israel pushed its southward offensive and renewed bombardment in the north. Israel is pressing its push against Hamas in southern Gaza as it seeks to destroy the Islamist militant group responsible for the deadliest attack in the country’s history. In early January, Israel’s military said the Hamas command structure in northern Gaza had been dismantled, leaving only isolated fighters. But witnesses said Israeli boats were bombarding Gaza City and other areas in the north early yesterday. Hamas has also reported heavy combat in the north. “Dozens are still under the rubble,” the Hamas government’s media office said, adding that the dead and injured “could not be transferred to hospitals due to the…

Dozens of Russian communists gathered in Red Square yesterday to mark the 100th anniversary of Vladimir Lenin’s death, in one of the few official events commemorating the Soviet founder. The centenary of the Bolshevik revolutionary’s passing has largely been ignored by ordinary Russians, but Lenin continues to be venerated by those nostalgic for the USSR. “I came here to honour the memory of Vladimir Lenin, our leader, the founder of the Soviet state,” said 47-year-old Yulia, one of many admirers who gathered outside Lenin’s mausoleum in freezing temperatures. “His ideas lit the way for many revolutionaries,” she said. Attendees could be seen carrying portraits of the late leader and waving flags of the Russian Communist Party, one of the few political parties allowed to take part in elections. “Our country…

Vatican City: Pope Francis called yesterday for the release of a group of people – including six nuns –kidnapped in Haiti, the Caribbean nation plagued by gang violence. The pontiff was speaking at the end of his weekly Angelus prayer at the Vatican. “In earnestly asking for their release, I pray for social harmony in the country.” According to the Haitian Religious Conference, the country’s association of religious orders, eight people including six nuns were kidnapped on Friday while travelling on a bus in Port-au-Prince. The incident comes amid an increase in kidnappings in Haiti, the poorest state in the Americas. Pope Francis, 87, also made reference to the situation in Ecuador, another country battling gang violence. Once considered a bastion of peace in Latin America, it has been plunged…

KYIV: A strike on a crowded market in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine left at least 25 people dead and 20 wounded yesterday, Moscow-backed officials said. Shattered storefronts and broken glass could be seen in videos shared by Russian state media, along with what appeared to be bodies lying on the ground nearby. Denis Pushilin, the head of the region’s Russian-controlled administration, blamed Ukraine for the strike, calling it a “horrific” artillery attack on a civilian area. Officials said the strike hit a south-western suburb of the city, less than 15km from Ukraine’s eastern front. | AFP…

ALBERT Einstein is famously remembered for saying: “In the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity.” South Afri- cans continue to experience the an- noyance and frustration of prolonged power outages. However, during this electricity crisis, it may be worth re- membering Einstein’s wise words and reviewing how they can be applied in navigating our businesses through these troubling times. Six opportunities for businesses in a crisis In short, crisis means change. And those resilient and adaptable to change can turn a crisis into an opportunity. Furthermore, businesses that can not only survive but also flourish during a crisis will have a higher embedded value and will be more appealing to investors when the business owners consider selling. Navigating a crisis success- fully, therefore, has numerous benefits. Crises are…

EQUITY markets on the JSE continued their sharp contraction last week. The current more bearish movement is mostly due to global market sentiment that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) is unlikely to lower its bank rate during its first two meetings ending on January 30 and March 20. The stickiness of US core inflation, as well as strong employment and US retail sales, which rose more than expected in November, indicate the US economy is still on solid ground and the risk for even higher inflation has increased. These sentiments boosted the US dollar against most emerging market currencies and put the rand under renewed pressure. The currency depreciated last week by 41 cents, from R18.64 to R19.05 against the dollar. This not only put pressure on domestic petrol…

ETHEKWINI Municipality’s Embassy Building offices were broken into, resulting in the alleged theft of sensitive municipal documents. The burglary incident, which took place about three weeks ago, has raised fears that its aim was to undermine a multimillion-rand “fraud investigation” that is currently under way. The Mercury understands that the City’s human settlements offices located at the Embassy Building in the Durban CBD were broken into and documents stolen. The human settlements unit is under intense scrutiny. The City revealed in October that it had suspended several officials in connection with an “irregular transfer” of funds meant for housing projects. The funds were estimated at R17 million. This “irregular transfer” led to a delay in the completion of a housing project as additional funds to complete the work needed to…

FIRES believed to have been started with malicious intent have sparked cause for concern at the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP). The SANParks TMNP team confirmed that three major fires attended to over the past few weeks were started in suspected arson attempts. While no criminal cases have been lodged with police, Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith said that the alleged arson and sabotage attacks were “devious attempts to disrupt vital aspects of service delivery”. SANParks spokesperson Lauren Clayton said: “A concerning pattern has emerged with the majority of recent fires occurring in the southern section of the TMNP, namely in the Kalk Bay, Oceanview and Redhill areas, as well as in the north of the park, in the Signal Hill and Pipe Track areas. “Fires in…

THE old chestnut of languages rears its head again. We must be the only country in the world that has 12 official languages and about 25 unofficial languages. So anyone can see that this is a problem. First, if every child should be taught in their home language, there will be apartheid at the schools as only Zulus will go to a school teaching Zulu, etc. We also don’t have enough teachers to help the students learn all the subjects in their home language. If they never learn another language that is used in the world, they will be trapped in their birth areas only, for example Pedi, and will find it nearly impossible to find work anywhere else. If they need to go to court, there won’t be enough…

THE South African government’s groundbreaking case urging the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order an immediate ceasefire for Gaza, alleging Israel is committing genocide, cannot be allowed to fall on deaf ears. South Africa has extraordinarily presented their case at the ICJ with all the necessary legal requirements and complete “preparedness”, applying knowledge of the law and creatively using logical and analytical facts, statements and arguments, with no unnecessary emotions. Although many countries are supporting South Africa’s case at the ICJ, countries like the US, Germany and France, all with long histories of colonialism and complicity in genocide, are backing apartheid Israel. For example, the Netanyahu apologist Germany needs to be reminded of its own genocide against Namibian people in the early 20th century. German colonial forces carried a…

In SPITE of spending his matric year in a residential Child and Youth Care Centre (CYCC) for sentenced or awaiting trial children and youth or those with severe behavioural challenges, a 20-year-old has completed his first year of information technology studies at a Cape Town college with top marks, boasting several As. The provincial Department of Social Development (DSD) noted that he received two As for his year mark and four As for practical marks. In 2022, midway through his matric year, the youngster was placed in Horizon CYCC, in Eerste River. Although faced with many challenges, and the disruption to his schooling, he persevered and passed matric with a distinction. Horizon CYCC manager Mornay Johnson said it hadn’t been an easy road for for the young man, but he…

THOSE who have watched the movie The Good, the Bad and the Ugly surely are shocked about this rearrangement of the title. Relax, it is tailored to suit the character in this one. Normally a person who is growing under an evil environment is likely to start by becoming bad because of the environment itself. They become worse as they grow up because of the influence and indoctrination with rhetoric and propaganda being soul partners. As a result you graduate from bad to ugly because you want to become like them. Depending on the change of times and you as a person you change to good. Is Adriaan Vlok a good ex-sample or a good example? Vlok did not just do a lot of bad things but evil things…

Tens of thousands gathered across Germany again yesterday to protest the far-right AfD, after it emerged that party members discussed mass deportation plans at a meeting of extremists. The influx of demonstrators was so large in Munich that organisers were forced to cancel a planned march and ask people to disperse for safety reasons. Organisers said about 50 000 people had turned up to the demonstration, twice as many as were registered for the event. An earlier estimate announced to the crowd had put the figure at 200 000, according to an AFP journalist. Police estimated a figure somewhere in the middle, around 100 000, according to the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Those who made it to the site of the planned protest carried signs saying “Nazis out” and “never…

Five kidnapped Nigerian sisters have been rescued after their abduction and the death of another sister triggered a public outcry, police said yesterday. The sisters were seized at the start of the year by armed men who burst into their home just 25km from Abuja city centre, according to the family. Attackers killed one sister, 21-year-old Nabeeha Al-Kadriyar, when a ransom deadline passed. Federal Capital Territory (FCT) police and the army rescued the girls on Saturday night in the Kajuru forest in neighbouring Kaduna State. “The FCT Police has rescued the victims and reunited them with their families,” a police statement said. A cousin of the girls confirmed that they were back with the family. Kidnapping for ransom is a major problem in Nigeria with criminal gangs targeting highways, apartments…

Moscow: Four people survived and two are unaccounted for after a Russian plane crashed in mountainous northeastern Afghanistan, the air transport agency Rosaviatsia said yesterday. The Falcon 10 business jet was believed to be carrying six people on a hospital flight from India to Uzbekistan and Russia before communication was lost on Saturday evening. The RIA Novosti news agency said two passengers were Russians, one who was seriously ill, and the other her husband who had paid for the flight. An official in Afghanistan said the aircraft came down in Badakhshan province, which borders China, Tajikistan and Pakistan. | AFP…

Lima: A protester violently grabbed Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Saturday during an event in the southern Ayacucho region, where 10 people were killed in mass anti-government demonstrations more than a year ago. TV footage of the assault showed Boluarte, 61, in traditional clothing surrounded by a crowd of people as she throws out candy, when a shouting woman approaches and grabs the president. A chaotic scene ensues as police intervene to separate the woman, with Boluarte uninjured. The woman said she held Boluarte responsible for the death of her husband during the December 2022 protests in Ayacucho during a crackdown. | AFP…