Table of contents for 2024-10-01 in Cape Times

Eleven-year-old cancer patient Isabella Esterhuyse saw her dream of meeting the Springboks come true on Saturday before their game against Argentina in Mbombela, Mpumalanga. A viral video on social media showed the teary Isabella, from East London in the Eastern Cape, received a letter from the Springboks confirming that she was going to attend the game as a mascot and hold Bok captain Siya Kolisi’s hand while singing the national anthem. Isabella walked hand-in-hand with Kolisi and the Springboks players and sang the national anthem in front of more than 40 000 rugby supporters. Before she was diagnosed with soft tissue sarcoma in April, Isabella played club rugby. With rugby being Isabella’s anchor as she fights cancer and with meeting the Springboks a lifelong dream, the young hero told the…

THE 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York over the last week predictably fizzled out as the most ineffectual talking shop in the world aided and abetted by a wanton civil service tourism comprising a beauty parade of heads of member governments and their entourage, self-styled experts and influencers, funded largely by hapless taxpayers. For an intergovernmental organisation born out of a misplaced sense of hope and idealism in the magnificent baroque surroundings of Methodist Central Hall in London in January 1946 amid the ruins of World War II before moving to its permanent HQ in New York, one can perhaps excuse the rampant hyperbole, hubris and self-righteousness, in contrast to the few lone voices of sanity and moral authority such as that of Barbados…

The Police Ministry must pay more than R2.3 million in damages to the mother of a teenager who was shot in the face by live ammunition used by the police during a service delivery protest in Ottosdal, North West province. The child’s mother claimed millions in damages from the police on behalf of her son, who was seven years old in 2018 when he was shot. The North West High Court, sitting in Mafikeng, earlier found that the South African Police Service (SAPS) was 100% liable for the damages the child had suffered. This was after the SAPS conceded full liability for the child’s injuries. Deputy Judge President Tebogo Djaje now had to determine the amount of damages payable. This was in respect of general damages, loss of earnings, and…

WHILE the bail application of Lutzville farmer Christoffel Stoman, who allegedly mowed down six-year-old Kwezi Jantjies with his bakkie, was postponed to Friday, a petition by community members opposing his release has garnered more than 1 500 signatures. The 70-year-old orchard farmer faces two charges of attempted murder and a charge of reckless and negligent driving following his arrest on September 20 when he allegedly ran over the boy with his bakkie, breaking his legs, for apparently stealing fruit found along the roadway near his farm. Stoman opposed the two Schedule 5 charges of attempted murder against him yesterday morning at the Vredendal Magistrate’s Court. Two defence witnesses – Stoman’s wife Magdalene Stoman and his brother-in-law Alain Grobelaar – took the stand to testify. Grobelaar, a retired police officer, was…

TODAY we celebrate International Day of Older Persons with a new Government of National Unity (GNU), and it feels timely to call on the new leadership to make a real commitment to supporting older persons living in their homes within our communities. The long-term care policy in South Africa is to move away from institutional care and support community and family care. Family care saves the government money, it is more affordable than residential or institutional care. It keeps people in their community where older persons largely want to stay. But we urge the GNU to be mindful of how current policies that seek to support and facilitate family care of older persons are in fact making it difficult for families to care for older persons. In our programme Family…

A South Korean court handed a three-year jail term yesterday to a former Seoul district police chief over a crush that killed more than 150 people, the Yonhap news agency reported. Tens of thousands of people –mostly in their twenties and thirties – had been out on October 29, 2022, to enjoy the first post-pandemic Halloween celebrations in the popular Itaewon nightlife district. But the night turned deadly when people poured into a narrow, sloping alleyway between bars and clubs, the weight of their bodies and a lack of effective crowd control leading to scores of people being crushed to death. Former Yongsan district police chief Lee Im-jae was found guilty of failing to prevent the crush – the first police officer to be convicted for their direct…

EU member states were expected to vote on whether to slap hefty tariffs on imported electric vehicles (EVs) from China on Friday, European diplomats said yesterday. The European Commission, in charge of EU trade policy, plans to levy additional duties of up to 36% on electric vehicles imported from China but the issue has divided the bloc. Brussels announced its plans in July for the tariffs – on top of current duties of 10% – after an anti-subsidy probe found Chinese state subsidies were unfairly undermining European competitors. The tariffs would become definitive for five years after a vote by the EU’s 27 member states that must take place before the end of October. That vote is now planned for October 4, EU diplomats said. One diplomat said the hope…

MOSCOW: The Austrian Interior Ministry published the preliminary results of the parliamentary elections, saying that the Freedom Party of Austria” (FPO) has won them with 29.2% of the votes. According to the results published on the ministry’s website, FPO may receive 58 mandates. The Austrian People’s Party of the incumbent Chancellor Karl Nehammer took second place with 26.5% of the votes and may receive 52 mandates. In third place is the Social Democratic Party of Austria with 21% of the votes, it may receive 41 mandates. On Sunday, elections to the National Council were held all over Austria. | Sputnik…

London: French President Emmanuel Macron was a “positive nuisance” during Brexit negotiations and wanted to punish the UK for leaving the EU, former British prime minister Boris Johnson has claimed. In the latest excerpts from his memoir, Unleashed, due to be published next month, Johnson said the French leader saw Brexit as “a terrible snub to the EU”. Johnson argues in the book that Macron tried to “put his Cuban-heeled bootee into Brexit Britain” over various issues during the protracted divorce talks. Johnson, who took power in 2019, three years after Britain voted to leave the EU, said that included “weaponising” the issue of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats, and “discreetly allowing” the migrants to come across. He said that Macron was “personally charming”. | AFP…

YORK TIMBERS has posted a notable rise in headline earnings per share, reaching 30.11 cents for the fiscal year ending June 2024, bouncing back from a substantial headline loss of 77.43c in the previous year. However, dividends continue to evade shareholders as the company navigates through its cautious recovery phase. Smalltalkdaily Research analyst Anthony Clark, however, said: “The process of maturity of the (company’s) timber continues to have an impact” on the company. “There has been a like-on-like improvement, but investors and shareholders still have a 12 to 18-month wait for the turnaround strategy to start to pay. Top line results look fair but core headline earnings per share (Heps) still going in the wrong direction with a loss of 10.74c per share,” said Clark. York Timbers operates across…

Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said yesterday that backlogs of over R270 billion in infrastructure projects and in the energy space have been cleared through intense engagements with directors-general as he gave assurance to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) that issues pertaining to procurement were being addressed. Speaking at an energy seminar yesterday, Ramokgopa said improvements were being made to the bid windows to iron out inefficiencies. “As part of our quest and to ensure that we see an exponential rise in renewables as part of energy mix, we are going to be a bit more aggressive in embodying bid windows,” he said. “Of course we were looking at catalytic projects but I can imagine that whatever challenges and encounters that these catalytic projects had are almost the same as…

Report lays bare the state of SANDF after failure to comply with procurement law THE Department of Defence has come under scathing criticism from Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke, who unveiled significant flaws in its financial management for the 2023/24 fiscal year. The department has overshot its budget by a staggering R3.3 billion, leading to unauthorised expenditure. In her report tabled in Parliament yesterday, Maluleke attributed the department’s qualified audit opinion to extensive internal control deficiencies. She pointed the finger at the leadership’s failure to exercise adequate oversight over financial and performance reporting, as well as compliance with laws and regulations. “Consequence management was not implemented to foster a culture of compliance with policies and legislation, and to deter further irregularities. “The lack of consequence management due to limitations on the accounting…

1 tbs vegetable oil 700g beef/mutton 1 large onion, chopped 1 tsp garlic paste 1 tsp salt 2-3 green chillies, chopped or 1 teaspoon chilli flakes 1 tbs sugar 3 cloves 3 tsp allspice 1kg green beans, sliced diagonally 3 large potatoes, quartered Heat the oil in a large pot and braise the onions until deep golden brown. Add the meat pieces and garlic; cook until nearly tender – about 40 minutes adding water as necessary. Add the salt, chillies, cloves, allspice and green beans as well as the potatoes and cook until the potatoes are soft and tender adding water for thinner gravy.…

A judge rejected claims by hospital staff at a Mpumalanga hospital, that a baby was born with severe brain damage because his mother, shortly before giving birth, took a mixture of what she had described as “good luck herbs.” The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ruled that the Mpumalanga MEC was fully liable for the damages suffered by the mother and child. Judge Anthony Millar found that the baby was born with cerebral palsy due to the negligence of the staff at Themba Hospital in Kabokweni. While the mother urgently needed to undergo a caesarean section, the procedure was delayed for hours. The child, now 14 years old, was born in 2010. The mother was first admitted to Themba Hospital on December 15, 2010, but discharged the next day…

In a move towards modernising government services, the minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber, has announced an ambitious five-year plan to fully digitise the Department of Home Affairs. According to Schreiber ,the initiative, known as Home Affairs @ Home, aims to shift the department towards a digital-first model, allowing South Africans and international visitors to access services entirely online. He noted that under the new strategy, the government intends to eliminate in-person visits to Home Affairs offices for routine services such as obtaining IDs, passports, and other certificates. Schreiber said clients will be able to apply through a secure online platform that utilises biometric technology, with documents delivered directly to their homes or made available digitally. “Over the next five years, all of the department’s services must become fully automated,…

The argument advanced by the SA Local Government Association (Salga) that churches should be taxed has some merit and its feasibility should be investigated further. Salga in KwaZulu-Natal has called for a review of the current arrangement in which churches are exempt from paying rates. According to Salga, the Income Tax Act of 1962 exempts churches and schools from paying income tax, and they receive other favourable treatment under tax laws as they hold the status of public benefit organisations. Salga has also called on the taxman to start a national debate on the current Act as circumstances have changed dramatically. Churches across South Africa play a significant role in assisting the government tackle social ills and fight poverty, homelessness, drug abuse, counselling the sick and promoting social cohesion. It…

Mozambique will hold presidential and parliamentary elections on October 9, marking the end of President Filipe Nyusi’s two-term tenure. The vote will take place as the government continues to fight Islamic State-linked militants in the gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado, where a major attack in 2021 forced Total- Energies to halt its $20 billion (about R344bn) liquefied natural gas project. There are four candidates vying to succeed Nyusi. Daniel Chapo, 47, is the candidate from Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo party that has governed the country since its independence in 1975. He is widely expected to win due to the party’s dominance, despite his relatively low profile in national politics. Chapo, who has previously worked as a TV and radio presenter and taught constitutional law at university, entered politics as a district…

Tehran: At least three policemen were killed in separate attacks by jihadists and gunmen in Iran’s south-eastern Sistan-Baluchistan province, state media said yesterday. One of Iran’s poorest regions, Sistan-Baluchistan on the border with Pakistan has long been plagued by unrest involving drug-smuggling gangs, rebels from the Baluchi minority and Sunni extremists. A separate attack on law enforcement in the same region yesterday left another border guard killed and two others wounded. The news agency also reported that a member of the police special force was killed in the town of Khash, also in Sistan-Baluchistan. A Sunni jihadist group claimed responsibility for earlier attacks. | AFP…

LAGOS: The World Bank has approved a $1.57-billion (R361bn) financing package for Nigeria under a new programme to support its health and education sectors and help provide sustainable power, the bank said yesterday. The World Bank is the largest lender to Nigeria, with more than $15bn in loans at the end of March, data from the Debt Management Office showed. The bank said that the money would help increase availability and effectiveness of financing for basic education and primary health-care service delivery. The bank said part of the money would be used to improve a dam safety to protect people from floods. | Reuters…

The Proteas Women have a final opportunity to fine-tune their skills today ahead of their ICC T20 Women’s World Cup opener against the West Indies in Dubai on Friday. Laura Wolvaardt’s team came unstuck in their opening warm-up game against New Zealand on Sunday with the batting unit in particular struggling to adapt to the conditions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They will face an even sterner test of their credentials against a powerful Indian team today in their last warm-up match. The Proteas have always relied on their top order to get the batting unit firing, and are largely dependent on their opening pair. Skipper Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits were crucial in the Proteas’ run to the T20 World Cup final last year at Newlands. Brits, however, has…

Proteas white-ball coach Rob Walter has pleaded for “patience” as the growing pains continue in the limited-overs formats. Walter had opted to rest a host of senior players for the tour to the United Arab Emirates where they would face Afghanistan in a three-match ODI series followed by a two-match T20I and a further three-match ODI series against Ireland. However, the inexperience of the group has been exposed thus far with Afghanistan claiming a first ODI series victory over the Proteas before Ireland also pulled off a maiden T20 victory on Sunday to level the series in Abu Dhabi. It certainly has been a chastening experience with Walter having to endure a painstaking collapse at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium as the Proteas failed to get over the line despite needing…

Private sector companies have begun showing great appetite in taking credit to boost their businesses as interest rates, structural reforms and policy direction under the Government of National Unity (GNU) bring certainty to the markets. The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) yesterday said private sector credit extension (PSCE) increased by 1.4% month-on-month in August, translating to 4.95% when measured on an annual basis, 4.95% year-on-year in August, accelerating to its highest in one year from a five-month low of 3.5% rise in July. This marked the 38th consecutive month of growth in private credit and the highest level since July 2023 and was ahead of the consensus forecast of 4.25% year-on-year. Specifically, the SARB said credit uptake by corporates which comprises more than half of total PSCE increased by a…

RENERGEN, operator of South Africa’s only onshore gas extraction facility, said its helium plant was at temperature and operational and its liquefied natural gas (LNG) production was moving back into a stable, reliable trend. The group, which operates from a site in Virginia, in the Free State, and which only brought its helium train into full production in August after a series of start-up related delays, said in a second-quarter update yesterday that LNG production was stable when compared to previous quarters in the prior 12 months. Two new, high helium exploration wells were completed in the quarter and converted to production ready status. Geological data confirmed the presence of an unmodelled gas-bearing fault, which would be targeted for future drilling. LNG production came to 1 249 tons, this…

THE Border Management Authority (BMA) is grappling with a staggering R4.5 billion budget shortfall that threatens its operations over the next three years. The repercussions are expected to affect critical areas such as human resources, technology investment, and essential equipment procurement. This was revealed by Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber in response to a parliamentary inquiry by DA MP Adrian Roos. “The shortfall for the Border Management Authority over the medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) period is R4.353 billion. The shortfall was as a result of the BMA not having received the full requested funding from the National Treasury,” Schreiber said. He also said the transferring departments transferred an accurate budget for compensation of employees and did not allocate a comprehensive budget for goods and services. Now, the DA wants…

AS THE manhunt continues for the suspects who shot and killed 18 people in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape’s AmaPhondo kingdom, police said they are confident of a breakthrough in their investigation. Two homesteads in the same street were targeted in the early hours of Saturday morning. Seventeen people were shot and killed in the incident while an 18th victim, who was in a critical condition, later died in hospital. According to police, the victims were preparing for a traditional ritual to mark the end of mourning for a mother and daughter who were murdered a year ago. IOL reported the names of the women victims as Nonkanyiso Dukuza, 19, Ruth King, 21, Mandisa Dlokweni, 59, Samantha Sinqina, 26, Lungiswa Gawulekana, 51, Thandeka Mhlaluvele, 46, Mary Sinqina, 63, Nombuliso Dukuza,…

It was “truly shocking” that a choice to cut teachers would ever be considered by any education department, says an education expert. Stellenbosch University’s Education Policy Studies lecturer, Dr Elzahn Rinquest, has suggested that cuts that are to be made should be from salaries of positions in higher level office-bearing staff. The Western Cape Education Department is under pressure to stop the decision to cut more than 2 400 teacher posts when their contracts expire by the end of the year. Weighing in on the matter yesterday, Rinquest, said: “Previously we’ve seen some teacher reallocations by the WCED, but cutting teaching posts in an environment facing teacher shortage is unconceivable. The most pressing direct consequences of cutting teachers from schools that are already dealing with overpopulated classrooms, (that is 45…

Breast cancer, the most prevalent cancer among South African women, is increasingly detected in women under 40. This trend mirrors global patterns, where younger women are being diagnosed with more aggressive forms of the disease, underscoring the need for early detection and awareness. A recent study in the US found that breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women aged 20 to 49 years in the US. Similarly, a South African study reported that the average age of breast cancer diagnosis for women under 40 was 34 years. Across all ages, breast cancer affects 1 in 27 women in South Africa, accounting for 23% of all cancers diagnosed. As October marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Breast Imaging Society of South Africa (Bissa), a sub-specialty group of…

An Eastern Cape woman who hired her neighbour to kill her uncle so that she could benefit from an insurance policy has been sentenced to an effective 26 years behind bars. Nompelo Maloyi, 37, and her neighbour and hitman Yithulwazi “Lwazi” Kay, 35, were sentenced in the High Court of the South Eastern Cape Division. Kay also received a 26-year jail term. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said the duo were convicted of the murder of 66-year-old Mynhardt Maloyi. Maloyi was killed at his Umasizakhe township home in Graaff-Reinet on November 25, 2022. Nompelo, who was Maloyi’s niece, was the beneficiary of several insurance policies, which she had taken out on him. The total insurance was worth R165 000. “Evidence presented in court revealed that she orchestrated the murder by…

THE Chinese embassy in Pretoria on September 26 celebrated the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic on 1 October 1949 with a gala event attended by more than 500 representatives from the South African government, business sector and media. Ambassador Wu Peng gave the keynote address and Minister of Human Settlements, Mmamolko Kubayi, responded on behalf of the South African government. In his address, Ambassador Wu highlighted how far China had progressed in the past 75 years lifting more than a billion people out of poverty into a state of shared prosperity. “In 1949, China’s per capita national income was only 27 US dollars. Our economic output was less than 5% of the world’s total. In 2023, China’s per capita national income reached 13 000 US…

Israel yesterday conducted its first strike in the Lebanese capital since it launched an operation to secure its northern border, killing three members of a Palestinian militant group, according to their organisation. Israel, which has not yet commented on the strike, launched a wave of air strikes on Lebanon last week, mainly targeting strongholds of Iran-backed Hezbollah. On Friday it dealt Hezbollah a seismic blow by killing its chief, Hassan Nasrallah. The strikes have killed hundreds and forced hundreds of thousands more to flee their homes, and left people across crisis-racked Lebanon and the wider region fearful of more violence to come. Most of Israel’s strikes over the past week have targeted Hezbollah strongholds in eastern and southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, the main bastion of the…

Nearly 200 people across the capital, Kathmandu, and elsewhere in Nepal were killed in the weekend’s floods, with nearly three dozen more still missing. Army search and rescue teams carried more than 4 000 people to safety and relief crews are working frantically to clear highways around the capital blocked by debris from landslides. Entire areas around Kathmandu were inundated, damaging schools and medical clinics including many servicing the city of nearly a million people’s poorest residents. More than two dozen computers at a community-run school were wrecked by the rising waters. “They are of no use now,” teacher Shyam Bihari Mishra said. “Our pupils will be deprived of education.” Deadly rain-related floods and landslides are common across South Asia during the monsoon season between June and September. Experts say…

Paris: The main defendant in a mass rape trial that has sparked horror and protests in France was absent yesterday because he is “unwell” and must undergo medical treatment, the presiding judge said. Dominique Pelicot, 71, has been on trial since September 2 over raping and recruiting strangers to rape his heavily sedated wife Gisele for nearly a decade. The trial had already been briefly suspended in mid-September due to the absence of Dominique Pelicot, who was suffering from intestinal problems. Dominique Pelicot had already been excused from the hearing on Friday to undergo a medical examination. He has admitted to the charges. | AFP…

MOSCOW: Russia’s Battlegroup Zapad has taken control of the village of Makeevka in the Lugansk People’s Republic, the Russian Defence Ministry has said. The Ukrainian armed forces have lost up to 1 965 soldiers over the past 24 hours against Russian forces, the Russian Defence Ministry said. Kyiv lost up to 620 soldiers in battles with Russia’s Battlegroup Tsentr, while 610 Ukrainian were lost in clashes with Russia’s Battlegroup Yug. Russia’s Battlegroup Zapad 450 Ukrainian soldiers; and Kyiv lost 135 soldiers in clashes with Russia’s Battlegroup Vostok. Ukraine lost up to 70 soldiers against Russia’s Battlegroup Sever and 80 soldiers to Russia’s Battlegroup Dnepr. | Sputnik…

ORLANDO Pirates defenders beware: Lehlohonolo Mojela is in a rich vein of scoring form and is coming your way this weekend with every intention to help Stellenbosch FC win the MTN8 title. It can be argued that of all the marquee signings of the new 2024/25 season, Mojela has been the most effective since joining the Cape Winelands team from TS Galaxy. Mojela has found the opposition net in every second match for Stellies, the man with the peroxide-coloured hair scoring against Polokwane City, Vita Club, Hotspurs and Mamelodi Sundowns. Coach Steve Barker is delighted that his new signing has hit the ground running. “He is getting on the scoresheet, scoring some really good goals and tonight’s was a really quality goal,” he said after the 1-1 draw at City…