Table of contents for 2024-05-09 in Cape Times

A GAUGE of emerging market currencies came under pressure yesterday as the US dollar resumed its charge upwards, while Poland’s zloty slipped in the lead up to an interest rate verdict later in the week. Yesterday morning early, MSCI’s index for emerging market currencies had shed 0.2%, set to snap a five-day winning streak. Most currencies in Central Eastern Europe traded in a tight range owing to a lack of catalysts, with Hungary’s forint slipping 0.2% against the euro, while the Czech crown also lost 0.2%. Poland’s zloty lost 0.4% against the euro ahead of a central bank rate decision today, where it is widely expected to hold rates steady at 5.75%. South Africa’s rand slipped 0.5% against the dollar as the greenback firmed, while Israel’s shekel also shed…

Patrons are invited to spend a day full of fun activities, vie for spot prizes inclusive of some of Cape Town’s top tourist attractions, tickets to upcoming performances including Cape Town City Ballet’s “I Got Rhythm” and Cape Town Opera’s “Lucia di Lammermoor”, at the Artscape’s Open Day on Saturday. To be hosted in the Box Office (Ticketing) Foyer, it is free to all members of the public. Artscape, the main performing arts centre in Cape Town, was opened in 1971 then known as the Nico Malan Theatre. It is located on reclaimed land in the Foreshore area. It boasts three main venues including the sumptuous Opera House, the grand Theatre, the intimate Arena Theatre as well as the newly created space for emerging producers and artist, The Innovation Lounge.…

FORMER Independent Electoral Commission chairperson Pansy Tlakula and former deputy chief electoral officer Norman du Plessis are among those Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has recommended for appointment to the Electoral Reform Consultation Panel. Two current top officials of the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) – chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo and Western Cape provincial electoral officer Michael Hendrickse – have also been nominated, despite the IEC barring its employees from serving when nominations were initially made last year. This emerged from a letter Motsoaledi sent to Acting Speaker of the National Assembly Lechesa Tsenoli where he submitted a list of nominees for appointment to the Electoral Reform Consultation Panel. The Electoral Amendment Act, signed into law in April 2023, empowers Motsoaledi to establish a nine-member panel within four…

President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday acknowledged that while progress has been made since the dawn of democracy, “for millions of South Africans, the promise of 1994 has not yet translated into the meaningful change that they seek and deserve”. Ramaphosa made the comments yesterday when he received the 30 Years of Democracy Review Report from the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation. The report reflects on the political, social, and economic journey of transformation of South Africa since 1994 at the advent of democracy, in order to derive lessons and make recommendations for the country’s development agenda. It also aims to provide evidence for the development of the new Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) 2024–2029, which serves as a five-year plan of government towards the implementation of the National Development Plan…

As a concerned citizen and lover of our natural landscapes, I write to express my distress over the recent mountain fires ravaging Table Mountain. While these current fires are mainly attributed to lightning strikes, it’s crucial to recognise the underlying human factor exacerbating their intensity and frequency. One cannot overlook the stark reality that the current infernos are fuelled by vast quantities of dead trees and forest stumps due to inadequate forest management practices. These neglected remnants serve as ready tinder when lightning strikes resulting in raging infernos that threaten lives, property and ecosystems. We cannot continue to ignore the warning signs and pass off these disasters as acts of nature. In addition to these immediate actions, we must confront the broader issue of climate change, which is exacerbating…

Your two readers' letters referring to Israel as an “artificial state” cannot go unchallenged. This kind of label is mere academic claptrap belonging in a first-year university debating class. How can a perfectly legal state, a member of the United Nations and the only democracy in the Middle East be “artificial”? In a country the size of the Kruger Park, where 1,8 million Arabs are citizens and hold top positions in society, where does apartheid fit in? Palestinians or Hammas in Gaza, who are bent on Israel's destruction, will continue to incur the wrath of the ID in defence of their country – reactive not proactive. This is not genocide. No mention is made of the need for a Jewish state or the right of colonialists to give land to…

A routine day at a scrapyard in Beaconvale, Mitchells Plain, took a dramatic turn when workers stumbled on a canister marked as containing hazardous radioactive material. The discovery, made during the offloading of a tipper truck, prompted swift action from authorities and sparked concerns over potential risks to public safety and the environment. City Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith said around midday yesterday, their control room received the urgent distress call from a scrap- yard in Beaconvale. “While offloading a tipper truck, staff came across a canister labelled as hazardous radioactive material. We immediately despatched our Traffic Services to secure the surrounding scene, while despatching our Fire and Rescue Hazmat team. Upon arrival, our Fire and Rescue technicians followed necessary protocols for dealing with radioactive materials. Using…

EFFORTS by investigation and prosecution teams have been lauded following the lengthy sentences handed down to a 32-year-old man for several gender-based violence offences, including the rape of a woman he had kidnapped in Mossel Bay. In 2019 Siyabonga Kiewiet had kidnapped a 28-year-old woman he had been in a relationship with. Police spokesperson, Christopher Spies said: “Investigation into the rape case revealed that the woman, who was in a relationship with the perpetrator at the time, was kidnapped on August 3, 2019. The suspect took her to his residence at Kwanonqaba in Mossel Bay where she was violated. The victim was held in captivity since then but managed to escape on 14 August 2019 and reported the matter to police. “The investigation by detectives attached to the Mossel Bay…

ALL LAW-ABIDING citizens, especially victims of crimes should be worried about the crime detection services in the SAPS. This is particularly so if the rate at which case dockets are being closed by the police is anything to go by. It was reported this week that Police Minister Bheki Cele revealed in a response to a parliamentary question that 5.4 million case dockets and investigations were closed without results due to lack of leads in the past five years. This effectively means that 1 million case dockets are being closed by the police in just a single year. Cele’s admission corresponds with a recent response by his justice counterpart Ronald Lamola, who revealed that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) returned 1.8 million dockets to the police for further investigation in…

AstraZeneca said this week that it had initiated the worldwide withdrawal of its Covid-19 vaccine due to a “surplus of available updated vaccines” since the pandemic. The company also said it would proceed to withdraw the vaccine Vaxzevria’s marketing authorizations within Europe. “As multiple, variant Covid-19 vaccines have since been developed there is a surplus of available updated vaccines,” the company said, adding that this had led to a decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied. According to media reports, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker had previously admitted in court documents that the vaccine causes side-effects such as blood clots and low blood platelet counts. The firm’s application to withdraw the vaccine was made on March 5 and came into effect on May 7, according to…

BELGRADE: China and Serbia yesterday agreed to follow a “shared future” as President Xi Jinping visited the Balkan country as part of his bid to forge stronger relations with allies at the edge of the EU. Xi is on his first European tour in five years, and the trip was seen as an effort to strengthen ties with eastern European countries that are pro-Russia and large recipients of Chinese investment. He flew to Hungary later in the day. Xi and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic signed 29 agreements promoting co-operation. Serbia will become the first European country in years to enter into a free trade agreement which will guarantee tariff-free exports for 95% of Serbian products to China. | Reuters…

Jakarta: A volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted yesterday and spewed an ash tower 1.5km into the sky, prompting officials to raise an alert level to the second-highest. Mount Ibu, on the island of Halmahera in North Maluku province, erupted and sent a thick column of dark smoke and ash above the peak. “The volcano spewed an ash tower 1.5km above the peak,” Indonesia’s volcanology agency said. Authorities formed an exclusion zone 3-5km around the volcano’s crater. Last month, Mount Ruang in North Sulawesi Province erupted more than half a dozen times. It erupted again last week and is at the highest alert level. | AFP…

ARTSCAPE is celebrating 30 years of democracy and diversity with SboNdaba Dance’s! ke e: /xarra //ke, Diverse People Unite, this month. The production reflects on how far the country has come as a nation and encourages South Africans to see the incredible depth of their diversity, and the power that people can give to a vision, harnessing individual strengths and working together with a common purpose. It will also shine a light on what is still to be done to ensure the vision remains solid. The new production is directed and choreographed by artistic director Sbonakaliso Ndaba. The cast of highly acclaimed dancers include SboNdaba dancers together with guest dancers from other arts organisations – Marlin Zoutman from New World Dance Theatre, Andile Vellum, Mpotseng Shuping, Yaseen Manuel from…

from page 1 Provincial police commissioner Thembisile Patekile said they had deployed their rescue teams to the site as well as it was being treated as a crime scene and a disaster scene. Meanwhile, Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, who was at the site yesterday, said while approaching the area “it was both a feeling of sadness and a sign of hope and happiness … a dichotomy”. “This type of tragedy we have seen in earthquakes, but in all this tragedy, the great joy was to see South Africans work together. We have always worked together when it comes to hardship and tragedy, difficulties and challenges. “A number of organisations have called for thorough investigations to be done to bring closure for those affected by the tragedy.”…

Emergency teams switch from rescue kit to demolition equipment to lift heavy slabs and save more trapped workers Rescue operations at the site of the collapsed building in George entered a new phase yesterday as emergency teams shifted from using rescue to demolition equipment to lift concrete slabs in attempts to save trapped workers. Provincial chief of disaster management Colin Diener said yesterday afternoon that the next few hours would be a “slow and careful process”. The change of equipment was in efforts to lift and move concrete to save more lives at the Victoria Street site, where the multi-storey apartment building collapsed on Monday afternoon. The death toll now stands at eight, with 37 retrieved and 38 still unaccounted for. One of the workers who was on site on…

THOSE who condemn the image of the SA flag ablaze in the DA TV ad launched on Sunday don’t understand the symbolism the party is conveying. It’s not the DA that has set the flag alight, but the incompetence, arrogance and corruption of the ruling ANC since Zuma came to power. This has continued unabated on Cyril Ramaphosa’s watch. Zuma was charismatic, but deeply flawed and pliable in the hands of corruptors such as Schabir Shaik and the Guptas. Ramaphosa on the other hand has as much charisma as wet blotting paper and is a fence-sitter, too scared to speak his mind or act decisively. A Hobson’s choice foisted on us by voters who insist on sticking with the devil they know. Election 2024 calls for brave choices…

UCT says it would welcome further action from any external authority to determine the facts conclusively in the arson incident of 2018 at the Faculty of Humanities. The university was responding to a number of reports where it was accused by a whistle-blower and former employee professor of sweeping the incident under the rug. UCT was accused of allegedly protecting an associate professor who was allegedly involved in a fire that damaged the Robert Leslie Social Science building. According to UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola there were two separate investigations into the matter and both were inconclusive in their findings and offered no recommendations for action. “The first investigation was done internally by UCT’s Campus Protection Services (CPS) in 2018. The second investigation was conducted by an external party in 2023.…

A different kind of government is possible There is a sense of great anticipation rippling through South Africa. As each day brings us closer to the May 29 national and provincial elections, questions are arising. Is it possible to unseat the ANC? Will our votes really bring change? What will South Africa look like after the votes are counted? There are a few things we can know for sure. Once the votes are cast, load shedding will suddenly reappear. The deluge of ribbon-cutting, sod-turning and project launching will instantly evaporate. And politicians who traded insults like schoolyard bullies will jockey for power, perfectly content to manipulate the will of the electorate and backtrack on their commitments. We know this because we know the players. We know their character and their…

The UN voiced concern yesterday after dozens of cases of cholera were reported in flood-stricken Kenya as the death toll from rain-related disasters surpassed 250. The World Health Organization (WHO) said 44 cases of the disease have been reported in Tana River County in eastern Kenya, one of the areas hardest hit in weeks of destructive rains and flooding. “I believe that between government and national and international partners, we’ll be able to contain it,” the UN’s resident co-ordinator in Kenya, Stephen Jackson, said in an interview with Citizen TV. “We’ve contained cholera before, but it’s a significant concern.” Cholera is an acute intestinal infection that spreads through contaminated food and water and typically causes severe diarrhoea, vomiting and muscle cramps. It can be especially dangerous for young children. “WHO…

The British government yesterday ruled out a cyberattack as the cause of a nationwide e-gate outage at a number of airports that caused long delays for passengers. The electronic gates which scan passports and use facial recognition went down on Tuesday but were up and running again after midnight. The government had earlier said it could not rule out state involvement in a mass cyberattack on the personal details of armed force personnel, with some MPs blaming China. Beijing denied that it was behind the hack on a contractor’s payroll system used by the defence ministry containing the names and bank details of up to 272 000 British service personnel. Airports including London Heathrow, London Luton, Edinburgh and Manchester saw severe delays, as Border Force officials had to manually check…

ISTANBUL: A FedEx Airlines Boeing 767 cargo plane landed at Istanbul Airport yesterday without deploying its front landing gear but managed to stay on the runway and avoided casualties, Türkiye’s transport ministry said. The aircraft, flying from Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, informed the control tower at Istanbul Airport that its landing gear had failed to open, and landed with guidance from the tower, the ministry said. Airport rescue and fire fighting teams were scrambled before landing, but no one was injured. No reason was given for the failure. The aircraft is a nearly 10-year-old Boeing 767 freighter, one of the most common cargo planes. | Reuters…

BANGKOK: Thailand will re-list cannabis as a narcotic by year-end, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said this week, in a U-turn just two years after becoming one of the first countries in Asia to decriminalise its recreational use. The moves comes despite rapid growth of a domestic retail sector for marijuana, with tens of thousands of shops and businesses springing up in Thailand in an industry projected to be worth up to $1.2 billion by 2025. Cannabis was decriminalised for medical use in 2018 and recreational use in 2022 under a previous government, but critics say its liberalisation was rushed through, causing confusion about regulations. | Reuters…

A NOW former teacher at the Laudium Secondary School in Pretoria, who claimed he was dismissed after nearly two decades at the school because of his pro-Israel sentiments, turned to the Labour Court in Johannesburg as he felt that he was given the boot unfairly. But the school’s governing body claimed this was not the reason for his dismissal and said his term of employment simply came to an end. The governing body, however, raised four special pleas, in terms of which it wanted the court to dismiss the application before even listening to the merits. The special pleas included that the Labour Court did not have the jurisdiction to hear the matter. According to the governing body, the application by the teacher, on his arguments, concerns unfair discrimination. Thus,…

Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel said more than 1 700 industrialists and entrepreneurs, who have a collective turnover of R183 billion, have been supported through the department’s black industrialist programme. Patel said the black industrialist programme and initiatives were no longer a financial support programme from government. Rather, they now included a range of measures that included regulators and private sector firms partnering with a growing number of black industrialists. He said his department conducted a survey of black industrialists and entrepreneurs who have been connected to the ecosystem of support that has been provided. The survey’s results, which were presented at the recent second Black Industrialists and Exporters Conference, indicated that more than 1 700 industrialists and entrepreneurs have been in the support ecosystem over the past several…

Another day, another stabbing, shooting, mugging and murder. This is Cape Town, often referred to as the murder capital of our beautiful rainbow nation. On April 11, I landed a fantastic position at a company in the Cape, but when I learnt that the location of my new endeavour was set in the central business district of Cape Town, I took a deep breath and reminded myself how lucky I was since the market is extremely competitive due to the semigration of Joburgers and Saffers from all over to the Western Cape. I was in my second week of employment, and a Monday morning session with the operations manager confirmed the uneasiness and cynicism I had been bottling up for some time about the CDB and notorious “Roeland Straat” –…

THE letter “Klip Road cemetery expansion surely spells trouble” (Cape Times, May 7, 2024, p4) refers: The City has not determined a way forward in respect of the land currently being used by the Gilray Scouts in Grassy Park. The lease expired in March 2023, and the Scouts are using the space on a month-to-month basis, pending a decision on the future of the site. The expansion of Klip Road Cemetery onto this site is one of the ideas that has been touted, given that the facility has only approximately a year of burials left. The Recreation and Parks Department has appointed consultants to undertake the necessary feasibility studies to determine if the land is considered suitable for cemetery development. The study is estimated to be completed by June 2024.…

The 29th day of February is less scarce than the appearance of politicians in the dusty streets of our townships and villages, because their election business comes round once in a five-year cycle. The interesting thing is that they always come armed with an election manifesto and boxes of free T-shirts. I thought I’d make it easier for them this year. Consider this, my dear friends in the leadership of political parties. The justice system is overwhelmed, overworked, out of its depth and its workers underpaid. Naturally, this has caused a bottleneck the size of Mount Kilimanjaro, one that is never going to be removed at the speed currently maintained. I propose a dual programme of the retraining of selected retired police detectives and ranked officers as municipal justice commissioners.…

The Department of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning is investigating a complaint against Stellenbosch Municipality, accused of allegedly denying the local community their right to public participation concerning a proposed land swap with a private developer. The matter relates to the proposed swap of prime municipal land for an erf allegedly of less value, owned by a private developer, and involving the Botmaskop Estate development in Stellenbosch by developer Staytus Collection. A complaint by the GOOD Party to Local Government MEC Anton Bredell details how chapter 4, sections 21 (1)(a)(b) of the Municipal Systems Act, Act 32 of 2000 and Regulations were allegedly not complied with as the community did not have an opportunity to comment on the matter because it was advertised in a paid-for newspaper and…

In April 1994, South Africa witnessed the dawn of a new era in our politics and national life. With the apartheid regime drawing its final breath, jubilation overcame millions of South Africans and the global community on what we commemorate as Freedom Day. The 1994 elections marked a watershed moment that granted citizens of all races, aged 18 and above, the hard-won right to exercise their freedom at the ballot box. Emotions surged as South Africans of every age queued across the nation with great hope to cast their votes. The moment not only signified the end of an era but also grappled with the echoes of a volatile past, yet cheered by the promise of a brighter future. Fast-forward 30 years to 2024, and there’s a noticeable absence of…

Russian missiles and drones struck nearly a dozen Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities yesterday, causing serious damage at three Soviet-era thermal power plants and blackouts in multiple regions, officials said. Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 39 of 55 missiles and 20 of 21 attack drones used for the attack, which piles more pressure on the energy system more than two years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion. “Another massive attack on our energy industry!” Energy Minister German Galushchenko wrote on the Telegram app. Two people were injured in the Kyiv region and one was hurt in the Kirovohrad region, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. Galushchenko said power generation and transmission facilities in the Poltava, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Vinnytsia regions were targeted. About 350 rescuers were racing to…

Israel bombarded the overcrowded Gaza city of Rafah, where it has launched a ground incursion, as talks resumed yesterday in Cairo aimed at agreeing the terms of a truce in the seven-month war. Despite international objections, Israel sent tanks into Rafah on Tuesday and seized the nearby crossing into Egypt that is the main conduit for aid into the besieged Palestinian territory. The White House condemned the interruption to humanitarian deliveries, with a senior US official revealing that Washington had paused a shipment of bombs last week after Israel failed to address US concerns over its Rafah plans. The Israeli military said hours later it was reopening another major aid crossing into Gaza, Kerem Shalom, as well as the Erez crossing. But the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said…

New York: After having been made to sit through a salacious narrative by a porn star in a New York court about her alleged tryst with him, former US president Donald Trump received a reprieve in a secret document litigation in Florida where the judge indefinitely postponed the case. The trial in the Florida case may be delayed beyond the November election. The judge in the case, Aileen Cannon, appointed to the Bench by Trump, cited the complicated nature of the case accusing him of mishandling top secret documents he allegedly retained illegally after leaving office. She said that there were “myriad interconnected” matters that included pre-trial motions. | IANS…

ISLAMABAD: A court in Pakistan granted a request yesterday by the wife of former prime minister Imran Khan to be moved to jail, her lawyer said, instead of the house arrest ordered by the government. Bushra Bibi had accused authorities of violating her privacy and serving contaminated food in her home cell, which she said was dominated by men, a charge the prison staff has denied. Bibi said she had been detained in one room at Khan’s mansion in Islamabad since the couple’s January conviction on charges of illegally selling state gifts. She had asked to be shifted to jail. The court ordered authorities to shift her to Adyala jail in Rawalpindi, where Khan is serving a 14-year sentence. | Reuters…