Table of contents for 2024-08-01 in Cape Times

Reimagining the intersection of art and activism through youth forums, panel discussions and performances by local and international talent, the upcoming Global Artivism Conference 2024 will highlight the crucial role of creative expression in advocating for social change. The conference will be hosted both in person and online by organisers including the Tshwane University of Technology’s Faculty of Arts and Design, Riky Rick Foundation, Community Arts Network (CAN), the City of Tshwane, and the Global Commons Alliance (GCA). Themed Artivism: Embracing Cultural Activism for a Safe and Just World, the event aims to empower individuals and organisations on the front lines of democracy by creating networking opportunities. “This will enable them to advance their work, fostering long-lasting change by addressing climate change, gender-based violence (GBV), uplifting vulnerable communities, discrimination and…

OPPOSITION parties say Premier Alan Winde’s address during the opening of the Western Cape provincial parliament yesterday lacked a plan to change the lives of the poor and instead bragged about awards won by the provincial government. In his address, Winde said his government would build on the successes achieved over the past five years and was committed to helping the Government of National Unity (GNU) succeed. “We will support them when it is in the interest of our residents and fight for our residents when we do not believe that they are doing so,” he said. Winde also said they would focus on financial stability over the next five years. He said the province had the fastest-growing population in the country and had the third highest population, yet it…

TWO car accident victims, who have been waiting to receive the interest payments on their claims – totalling about R2 million – from the Road Accident Fund, have turned to court to have its CEO, Collins Letsoalo, imprisoned for not paying them. But the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, in dismissing the application, said the RAF cannot alone be held accountable for its state of affairs. Judge Denise Fisher said it is clear the RAF is technically insolvent and unable to pay certain judgment debts against it, including those of the applicants. The fund is a component of a central, State-run social security scheme which demands legislative and executive co-operation in accordance with the Constitution, she said. “The constitutional right to which victims of motor vehicle accidents are entitled is the…

WCED urged to emulate Gauteng MEC’s stance in the interest of children’s feelings The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has been accused of protecting a Table View High School substitute teacher who allegedly used the K-word during a matric history lesson by not suspending her. While pressure has been mounting on the department to follow in the footsteps of its Gauteng counterparts, where the MEC announced the suspension of Pretoria High School for Girls over a race-related incident, WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said the cases cannot be compared. Pretoria High School for Girls principal Phillipa Erasmus was placed on three-month suspension after one of the learners who lifted the lid on racism allegations at the school was allegedly victimised and the principal reportedly did not take action following initial complaints.…

Termination of Zuma’s party membership signals factional fighting is far from over For over six months, everyone argued about whether there would be consequences for former state president Jacob Zuma’s action to support the Umkhonto WeSizwe Party (MKP) in the last national and provincial elections while still an ANC member and whether the ANC was bluffing or serious about calling him before a disciplinary committee. Some political experts who had long told people to take it easy and instead wait for mediation talks were now telling people to get worried. Others, who had long criticised Zuma for sowing divisions within the ANC, said that he was trying to draw attention to himself ahead of the national elections and that it was all for show. Among the analysts, there was a…

Hopes of finding survivors began to fade as hundreds of rescuers worked through slush and rocks and pulled out bodies from debris in the hills of India’s Kerala state yesterday, a day after 167 people were killed in monsoon landslides. Steady rain that intensified as the day progressed and the rising water level in a local river hampered the rescue, with a temporary bridge built to connect the worst affected area of Mundakkai being washed away. The weather department has forecast more heavy rain over the next 24 hours, Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said and urged people to be on “high alert”. Heavy rain in Kerala, one of India’s most popular tourist destinations, led to the landslides in its Wayanad district early on Tuesday, sending torrents of mud, water…

More than 100 venture capitalists including entrepreneur Mark Cuban and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman threw their support behind US Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris yesterday, in a counterweight to tech billionaires backing Republican rival Donald Trump. Investor Chris Sacca, Katie Stanton of Moxxie, Eva Ho of Fika Ventures and Rebecca Kaden of Union Square Ventures were among those who signed the letter and pledged to vote for Harris in the November 5 election. The letter comes after Trump drew support from other wealthy, high-profile Silicon Valley venture capitalists and investors. Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla, publicly endorsed Trump for the first time after the July 13 assassination attempt on the former US president. Entrepreneur and investor David Sacks, a close friend of Musk, has also hosted fundraisers for…

ROME: Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers approved a declaration yesterday voicing solidarity with the Venezuelan people and concern about the announced election results, which sparked protests across the South American nation. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro claimed victory in the country’s elections early this week, but the opposition contested the result and said multiple independent exit polls and quick counts decisively showed its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, had more than twice as many votes as Maduro. G7 foreign ministers called on “Venezuelan representatives to publish detailed election results in full transparency”. | Reuters…

Los Angeles: Hollywood star and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio has applauded the efforts in searching for lost species in a natural park in Madagascar in eastern Africa. DiCaprio took to his Instagram, where he shared a reel video about how in 2023, a team set out to Makira, Madagascar and is tagged as “a first of its kind expedition to find 30 lost species”. The Titanic star said that the search in Madagascar’s Makira Natural Park successfully rediscovered 21 species, including three small iridescent fish, five jumping spiders, and a giant millipede that had not been documented since 1897.” He said that this was in addition to species “entirely new to science”.…

Closing the skills gap and helping to address the unemployment crisis in the country are two of the aspects that drove Jacintha Naidoo to start her business. Naidoo is the CEO and founder of Nanyata, a proudly South African, decade-old, black female-owned talent solutions provider. After working for decades in the public sector, Naidoo told Business Report that her company created an empowering environment where top contract professionals, permanent job-seekers and blue-chip companies unite to achieve extraordinary success. Naidoo told Business Report that she ventured into the world of entrepreneurship because she yearned for flexibility at first. “The initial reason was like most mothers, I yearned for flexibility, and this was not possible in my senior role at a government agency which included a fair amount of travel in SADC…

Up-and-coming comedy star Daniele du Plessis has produced a side-splitting woman’s day show in aid of The Saartjie Baartman Centre. A familiar face in Cape Town’s comedy circuit, Du Plessis’ star power continues to grow as she captivates audiences with her sharp wit and infectious energy. Du Plessis is an actor, singer, writer, comedian and Jive Funny Championship finalist. She recently graduated from the Waterfront Theatre School where she spent the last four years developing her skills as a performer. She is currently working on several projects, one of them being Unhinged – The Love Project, Cape Town’s first live dating show. It has boasted three sold-out shows this year and continues to assert itself as an ever-growing brand both on social media and as an event in its own…

HOME Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said measures were in place in his department to clamp down on fraudulent activities in the issuing of visas to foreign nationals. He was responding to parliamentary questions from ATM leader Vuyo Zungula, who wanted to know about measures the Home Affairs Department has implemented to address issues of fraudulent visa issuances and ensuring stringent audits to prevent abuse of immigration policies. Zungula also asked what steps the department intended to take to tackle so-called visa shopping, where individuals moved between visa categories to qualify for permanent residency, thereby creating backlogs and potentially exploiting loopholes in the system. Schreiber moved swiftly to grant temporary extensions to foreigners waiting for the outcome of visa, waiver and appeal applications soon after his appointment to the Cabinet. In…

While no arrests have been made in connection with the suspended officials implicated in alleged financial irregularities within the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights (CRLR), the Hawks have confirmed their investigation is at an advanced stage. Yesterday, the Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development, Mzwanele Nyhontso, approved the immediate suspension of the officials who worked at the Regional Land Claims office in the Eastern Cape. It is unclear how many officials have been suspended. Hawks spokesperson Yolisa Mgolodela said: “No arrest has been effected yet, but the investigation is at an advanced stage.” Nyhontso said the allegations were being treated with the “utmost seriousness, and swift measures have been taken to ensure a full and thorough investigation by relevant authorities”. The department said: “Interim measures have been implemented…

A COURT has ordered that a little boy, 4, may receive medical treatment from specialists because the child is suffering from various ailments, apparently as a result of in utero drug exposure. The child is currently in temporary foster care, but his biological mother urgently turned to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, to obtain an order that only she, or a court, may decide on his medical treatment and medication. She also asked that a curator be appointed to make decisions on behalf of the child and that his medical needs not be in the hands of his caregivers. One of her concerns is that his specialists are exposing him to harsh medication. Following his birth from his drug addict mother, the child has been identified with special medical needs.…

BASIC Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube is probably still familiarising herself with the workings of the department and trying to find a way of having President Cyril Ramaphosa not sign the Bela (Basic Education Laws Amendment) Bill, which her party, the DA, has strongly opposed. While she is at it, she may want to park those issues. There is a pressing and disturbing matter that requires her to display leadership. The first test of her leadership will be how the new minister responds to the racial incidents coming out of some schools, predominantly former Model C institutions. Our news pages have been filled with reports of black pupils either being barred by their white peers from taking part in a WhatsApp group, a substitute teacher allegedly using the k-word in a…

Dozens of British police officers suffered injuries in violent clashes in an English seaside town late on Tuesday after three young girls were killed a day earlier in a violent stabbing attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event. Police vans were set on fire in Southport and protesters hurled bricks at officers and at cars parked at a mosque, following speculation and unverified posts on social media that the suspect behind the attack was a Muslim and a migrant. As well as killing three girls aged 6 to 9, Monday’s horrific incident in the normally quiet town in north-west England saw eight other children stabbed. Five remain in a critical condition in hospital along with two adults who tried to protect them. Police, who have arrested an unnamed 17-year-old male…

Nairobi: Kenya has detected its first case of mpox, the health ministry said yesterday, as the regional East African bloc urged caution in the face of an outbreak. The case of the viral infection was detected in a passenger at a border crossing in southern Kenya, the ministry said, adding that the person was travelling from neighbouring Uganda to Rwanda through Kenya. It followed an announcement from Burundi on July 25 of three confirmed cases. The outbreak triggered a warning from the eight-member East African Community (EAC), which would “convene a meeting of health experts to deliberate on the situation”, it said. | AFP…

Rome: Italian researchers have noted the first case of “virgin birth”, or reproduction without fertilisation, in an endangered shark species. The findings published in Scientific Reports concern the first case of the phenomenon in the common smooth-hound shark, a species threatened by illegal fishing. Researchers from the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Piedmont, Liguria and the Aosta Valley found two female sharks in captivity had exhibited parthenogenesis since 2020. Cycling parthenogenesis, in which progeny can be born from fertilised eggs or asexually with unfertilised eggs, occurs in 15 000 species but has not yet been seen in mammals. | AFP…

SOUTH Africa’s two golfers at the Paris Olympics will be looking for improved performances after struggling in their last two tournaments, where they didn’t make the cut, as they go in search of a medal and that elusive major tournament win. An Olympian from Tokyo in 2021, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, and Erik van Rooyen, who will make his Games debut, tee off this morning at Le Golf National outside Paris as the duo bid for another medal or two for Team South Africa. It will not be as one of the favourites, though, as that title belongs to world No 1 Scottie Scheffler of the United States, and his compatriot Xander Schauffele, who won The Open at Royal Troon recently. Schauffele is also the defending Olympic champion after winning in Tokyo…

In South Africa, there is a societal preference for secure jobs over entrepreneurial ventures. Entrepreneurship is also often seen as less desirable than government or corporate jobs, a sentiment that is pervasive nationwide. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report for 2022/2023, only 5% of South African adults expect to start a business in the next three years, one of the lowest rates among 49 participating economies. Additionally, nearly 60% of adults in South Africa fear failure which deters them from starting a business. The mindset poses a significant obstacle to fostering a vibrant entrepreneurial culture in townships, limiting innovation and economic diversification. The view is shared by Herrington and Kew in their study that also ranked South Africa as one of the lowest-performing countries in terms of entrepreneurship due…

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli has outlined wide-ranging plans for his government focused mainly on boosting the rural economy and developing a multimillion-rand fund to help develop youth- and women-owned businesses. Ntuli delivered his first State of the Province Address (Sopa) at the provincial legislature in Pietermaritzburg yesterday. The 18-page address was welcomed by some of the opposition parties, while others said they will adopt a wait-and-see attitude if what has been promised will be implemented. The parties will today debate the Sopa at the legislature. “As KwaZulu-Natal, we fully align to the three strategic priorities adopted by the Government of National Unity. These priorities act as both an anchor and a compass for this seventh administration’s programme of action. “These are: to drive inclusive economic growth and job creation; to…

Seafood, agri-processing and branded fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) firm Sea Harvest left a Cosatu-led picket fuming after failing to accept a memorandum demanding answers over the deaths of 11 fishermen at sea. Cosatu led a picket to Sea Harvest’s offices calling for transparency about progress made in the investigation relating to the company’s MFV Lepanto that sank in May, claiming the lives of 11 fishermen on board. Anastacia Smith, the sister of Jeremy Minnies, one of the fishermen presumed to have drowned, said the South African Maritime Safety Authority​ (Samsa) informed them that the investigation was ongoing. “Initially, we were told that the probe will take about three to four weeks then a preliminary report would be available. However, weeks after that, there were reports that the investigators were changed…

“Being a ranger comes from the heart and is not for the benefit, anything after that is just a bonus of being ranger,” says Tharollo Mthisi. A ranger in the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Soutpansberg Protected Area programme, Mthisi is one of several rangers who marked World Ranger yesterday through continued efforts to protect the environment. The EWT’s rangers in the Soutpansberg are crucial to conservation action on the ground, as they are dedicated to protecting a range of threatened species through anti-poaching patrols and by securing their habitats by eradicating invasive alien plants, controlling soil erosion, and reducing bush encroachment. As a close-knit team, the EWT’s rangers are multi-functional, also assisting with infrastructure maintenance of hiking trails, firefighting and controlled management burns, guest relations and community outreach. Often, the rangers…

China’s four-day Third Plenum concluded on July 18, 2024 and laid out a vision for the future. Historically, the meetings have introduced significant changes, such as Deng Xiaoping’s “reform and opening-up” policy in 1978, which catalysed China’s economic growth. Held every five years, the outcomes of the meetings often have lasting impacts on China’s economy and, as the world’s largest importer of commodities, it will have a major effect on South Africa. The 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) adopted a resolution on further deepening reform comprehensively to advance Chinese modernisation. The resulting blueprint will guide China’s reform and opening-up for years to come. General secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping delivered important addresses and discussed a report on the work of the Political…

Hamas said yesterday that its political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran, where he was attending the swearing-in of the new president, and vowed the act “will not go unanswered”. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei too threatened “harsh punishment” for Haniyeh’s killing, saying: “We consider it our duty to seek revenge for his blood as he was martyred in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian said yesterday: “The Zionists will soon see the consequences of their cowardly and terrorist act.” “Such measures are a sign that the policies of the Zionist regime have reached a dead end,” he added. Israel declined to comment on the Tehran strike, which came after it struck a Hezbollah stronghold in south…

Kenya’s Court of Appeal yesterday declared the government’s 2023 finance law unconstitutional, inflicting a new blow to President William Ruto’s government who withdrew this year’s finance bill after deadly protests. The bills are the main vehicle for the government to set out its revenue- raising measures, including tax hikes and the introduction of new levies. The 2023 bill was challenged in court following opposition-led street protests, after Ruto’s government used it to double the value-added tax on fuel, introduce a housing tax and raise the top personal income tax rate, among other measures. “A further declaration is hereby issued that the failure to comply with this constitutional dictate renders the entire Finance Act, 2023 unconstitutional,” a three-judge Bench of the Court of Appeal said in a ruling. The court’s verdict…

LONDON: Former British TV presenter Huw Edwards, the long-time face of the BBC’s flagship news programme, pleaded guilty yesterday to three counts of making indecent pictures of children. Edwards, 62, was the BBC’s highest paid journalist and top news anchor until he quit in April following allegations he had paid a young person thousands of pounds for sexually explicit photos. Edwards has not been on TV screens for a year. In London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court, he admitted having been sent several indecent images of children between December 2020 and August 2021. | Reuters…

HOUSTON: Texas can keep a 300m-long floating barrier in the Rio Grande to deter illegal border crossings by migrants at the river separating the US and Mexico, a US appeals court has ruled, rejecting a challenge by US President Joe Biden’s administration. The full 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday reversed an interdict granted by a lower court requiring Texas to move the string of wrecking ball-sized buoys. The ruling was a blow to Biden’s administration, locked in several legal battles with Texas and other Republican-led states over illegal border crossings. The floating barrier is part of Texas governor Greg Abbott’s efforts to deter illegal border crossings. | Reuters…

JOSE Riveiro has downplayed talk of Orlando Pirates being the team to beat next season, but the coach has vowed that they’ll be competitive in every competition. Pirates will start their MTN8 title defence when they host SuperSport United in the quarter-finals at Orlando Stadium on Saturday (6pm kick-off). But while a win in that match will see them edge closer to their third MTN8 crown in a row, ‘The Ghost’ want them to go for the jugular and challenge for the league title. They believe that the door is open for them to knock defending Premiership champions Mamelodi Sundowns off their perch. Sundowns have ruled the land for seven successive seasons, while Pirates were their closest challengers in the past two campaigns after finishing as runners-up. However, there’s been…