Table of contents for 2024-10-22 in Cape Times

The State Diamond Trader (SDT) has reported significant financial underperformance in its latest annual report, raising alarms about the health of South Africa’s diamond industry. Against a backdrop of declining production levels and market prices, the SDT fell short of its budgeted purchases target by R290 million, acquiring rough diamonds valued at only R606m. Its sales performance fared even worse, with a staggering shortfall of R309m, as it managed to achieve a sales value of just R631m, equating to a meagre gross margin of R10m. This gross margin is a dismal R34m below the entity’s budgeted expectations. Peter Major, a director of mining at Modern Corporate Solutions, yesterday raised concerns that the situation may reflect deeper underlying issues than what raw figures suggest. “The losses are probably worse. If you…

THE Ministry of Police has come under criticism for taking almost two years to fill the vacant position of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) Judge. This comes after it emerged that former DPCI Judge Frans Diale Kgomo’s contract was not extended in October 2022. Kgomo’s successor, Judge Frans Legodi was appointed only in May this year to oversee the investigation of complaints related to infringement of the rights of the public by DPCI investigators and interference in probes conducted by the Hawks. The non-filling of the position took place while Bheki Cele was the minister of police. Charmaine Marshall, the director in the Office of DPCI Judge, said their office had been without a judge appointed for the whole of the 2023-24 financial year. “What we did in…

State reveals alleged intention to orchestrate ‘profound betrayal’ RACQUEL “Kelly” Smith, the mother of missing Joshlin Smith, had apparently already made plans to sell her three children in August last year. This is according to the State’s case which has officially been transferred to be heard at the Western Cape Circuit High Court at the end of January next year. Smith along with Jacquin Appolis and Steveno van Rhyn – are charged with trafficking for the purpose of exploitation and kidnapping. Yesterday the State dropped charges against Lourencia Lombaard who has turned State witness. It is the State’s case that six-year-old Joshlin was last seen getting into a white vehicle with her mother and was reported missing hours later. Joshlin, who was to celebrate her seventh birthday tomorrow, disappeared…

ACCORDING to an article on IOL, Aaron Bayhack, a 22-year- old Sandton man, was part of an elite Israeli sniper unit accused of despicable war crimes against unarmed Palestinians. His actions beg the question, what type of human being will kill unarmed civilians and then continue his life as normal? Does he not have a conscience? How could he have murdered unarmed Palestinians and then still sleep peacefully at night? After (allegedly) killing several Palestinians, he boards an aeroplane, flies to South Africa, and then still blends in with other human beings as he goes about his daily routines in Sandton. The abnormal and illegal actions of the IDF snipers always bothered me. Is a plausible explanation that such cold-blooded murderers could have a genetic make-up, predisposed to such despicable…

A pioneering collaboration between academia, government and industry partners has led to the successful conversion of a 65-seater diesel bus into an electric equivalent. The project was initiated, funded, and managed by the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI), in partnership with Stellenbosch University (SU), Golden Arrow Bus Services, Rham Equipment, the Department of Science and Innovation and the Department of Electricity and Energy (DEE). The 2005 diesel bus underwent a full retrofit process in which its diesel engine, gearbox, and fuel tank were replaced with an electric motor, control electronics, and high-capacity batteries. Despite the substantial mechanical overhaul, the bus retains the same weight as its original diesel version and has achieved roadworthiness certification. With an estimated range of 200km, the prototype will now undergo extensive functional and…

THE City has assured residents that tap water is safe to drink following reports of water discolouration in several areas, including Khayelitsha, Strand, Lansdowne and Grassy Park. Mayco member for water and sanitation Zahid Badroodien yesterday said the latest water sample results confirmed that the temporary discolouration reported last week has mostly cleared across the affected areas. “The tap water is safe to drink and complies with SANS241 health standards,” Badroodien said. The City last week said it was receiving an increased amount of complaints related to the discolouration of water. Areas reporting discolouration included Belthorn Estate, Lentegeur, Lotus River, Claremont, Pelikan Park, Portland, Philippi, Crawford, Macassar, Ikwezi Park, and Primrose Park. Badroodien had said the Blackheath Water Treatment Plant recently underwent maintenance and the plant was shut off for…

IN LIGHT of recent economic developments that suggest consumers should be enjoying lower food prices, the call by the Pietermaritzburg-based Economic Justice and Dignity Group for the absence of food price reductions to be investigated is welcomed. In the current economic landscape – with a stronger rand, decreasing petrol prices and the absence of load shedding – consumers should be experiencing relief at supermarket tills. However, food prices remain unyielding. This raises troubling questions regarding the integrity of retailers. Are these businesses, perhaps, colluding to maintain inflated prices at the expense of the consumers they are supposed to serve? The absence of price reductions in basic foods is a signal that something is amiss. It is alarming that when economic conditions favour lower prices, staples like bread, maize and cooking…

Asian markets started the week on a mixed note yesterday as traders weigh Chinese central bank interest rate cuts aimed at reigniting the world’s number two economy, while gold hit a record high on geopolitical concerns. Another record day on Wall Street on Friday was unable to inspire a similar rally at the start of the week, with traders also gearing up for the latest company earnings season. The People’s Bank of China said it had slashed two key rates to all-time lows as part of a drive by authorities to revive spending and achieve their 5% annual economic growth target. The move comes after figures last week showed the economy expanded at its slowest quarterly pace since the start of 2023, but better than forecast. Zhang Zhiwei, president and…

BEIJING: China yesterday condemned an attack on its consulate in Mandalay and urged Myanmar authorities to make every effort to arrest the perpetrators, its foreign ministry said. Myanmar has been in turmoil since February 2021 when the military ousted an elected civilian government in a coup, abruptly ending the impoverished country’s tentative steps towards becoming a full-fledged democracy. Last week’s incident follows a surge in anti-China sentiment on social media in Myanmar, after its recent pressure on rebel groups to halt their fighting against the military regime. A blast on Friday partially damaged the consulate premises. | Reuters…

Maputo: Police in Mozambique fired teargas yesterday to disperse a small crowd where shops were closed ahead of a planned protest against alleged electoral fraud. Several dozen people, including journalists, scattered as heavily armed police walked down a main street. Opposition leader Venancio Mondlane called the protest to contest early results showing the ruling Frelimo party ahead. Tensions rose after two Mondlane associates were shot dead in Maputo on Saturday. The EU, AU, and UN condemned the incident, urging authorities to identify the perpetrators and restore peace in the region following the violence.…

CANBERRA: Britain’s King Charles was accused of “genocide” by an Indigenous senator at Australia’s Parliament House yesterday, moments after he delivered a speech in which he paid his “respects to the traditional owners of the lands”. Charles had finished speaking when activist Lidia Thorpe shouted that she did not accept Charles’ sovereignty over Australia. “You committed genocide against our people,” she said. She was stopped from approaching the king, who was unfazed. | Reuters…

The T20 Challenge is heading towards its business end, and the Titans are looking to dethrone the Lions off their crown. The first of three play-off qualifiers will get underway on Tuesday with the top two sides in the competition (Lions and Titans) vying for a place in the final. The Lions finished top of the log with 22 points, with the Titans following closely on 21 from seven matches. The perks of also finishing in the top two will also mean that the side that comes at the wrong end of the stick on Tuesday will get a second shot against one of the North West Dragons or Western Province, who qualified third and fourth, respectively, in the eliminator play-off on Friday. The Titans are the most successful franchise…

from page 1 He said teams had undergone training at the NICD and have been provided with the necessary equipment and tools. Meanwhile, the IFP believes that businesses in the spaza shop industry should be run by South Africans. This is according IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa, who was addressing the media yesterday. Hlabisa conveyed his condolences to the families of the six children who died in Naledi. Speaking on the issue, Hlabisa said: “We remember the six Soweto schoolchildren who so tragically lost their lives after eating food from a foreign-owned spaza shop. “The IFP is of the view that we need multiple, urgent interventions that must be initiated to ensure that we return the spaza shop industry to South Africans, while dealing with the large amounts of foreign nationals…

PUBLIC Works and Infrastructure Services Minister Dean Macpherson says while the construction industry is facing challenges including threats from construction mafia groups and inefficiencies within public sector procurement, it must work with government to deliver tangible projects. The minister was addressing the gathering of the South African Council for the Quantity Surveying Profession in Durban yesterday. The minister said the sector is faced with key challenges that must be dealt with head-on. “I want to discuss not only the challenges we face as a sector but, more importantly, the solutions we can work on together. “It is no secret that the construction industry is under pressure. From the disruption caused by the so-called ‘construction mafia’ to the impact of competitive fee tendering and the inefficiencies within public sector procurement, these…

The national Department of Health has said a chemical agent could be behind the series of food poisoning incidents. Environmental inspectors and others began their work in Naledi, Soweto, yesterday to identify the chemical agent. Six children in Naledi died of suspected food poisoning after consuming snacks allegedly bought from a spaza shop in the area. There have been other cases of alleged food poisoning involving snacks bought from foreign-owned spaza shops. The incidents have sparked widespread outrage and led to communities shutting down spaza shops in Johannesburg and destroying their supplies. Spokesperson for the national Department of Health, Foster Mohale, said various authorities and departments had been seized with the matter, including the SAPS, and the metros of Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni, which deployed their environmental inspectors to investigate the…

IN THE last few weeks before the upcoming US elections, both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are relatively silent on fundamental issues affecting the American voters. The speeches from Trump and Harris are focused more on pettiness, rabble-rousing inaccuracies and dirty politics. Fundamental issues like the possibility of the US economy edging towards a recession, increase of mass job layoffs, the crumbling social services, foreign policy and international conflicts amongst other important topics are not being reviewed, deliberated and discussed. The war in Ukraine, the escalation of the year-long genocide in Gaza, the bombing of Lebanon by apartheid Israel, the high possibility of targeting Iranian military facilities by the Israeli regime are not being appropriately discoursed by the presidential candidates. These key topics of discussion are extremely important not only…

ANTI-GANG Unit members have been deployed to the Delft area following a shooting that claimed the lives of three men and injured a 14-year-old boy at the weekend. Gunmen opened fire at a group sitting in a yard in Seine Street, Eindhoven, Delft at 5pm on Sunday. Police spokesperson Andre Traut said: “Detectives attached to the Western Cape Provincial Serious and Violent Crimes Unit are probing the circumstances that led to the death of three males aged 27, 30 and 34 and the attempt to kill a 14-year-old male, in what we believe was a gang-related incident. “Unknown assailants opened fire at the group where they were sitting in the yard of a residence and fled the scene empty handed.” Members of the anti-gang unit were deployed in the area…

Pursuit of energy resources, strategic trade routes underpin Israel’s military actions TO DATE, the ongoing war in Gaza has claimed over 42 000 Palestinian lives, with more than 2 000 civilians killed in Lebanon following Israel’s expanded military operations. The destruction is staggering, and yet, rather than condemning these actions, the West has actively facilitated Israel’s aggression through political cover and immense military aid. While Israel publicly claims its objectives are to neutralise Hamas and free hostages, these justifications ring hollow. The reality is far more calculated and insidious. The war is a means for Israel and its Western allies to secure control over critical resources and geopolitical routes, particularly through the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) and the strategic expansion of Israeli influence through projects like the proposed Ben…

As Chinese President Xi Jinping and a host of other leaders gather in Kazan, Russia, for the 16th BRICS summit, the world is once again turning the spotlight on the burgeoning international mechanism to see how it will push forward self-development and respond to global woes. A steadfast champion of BRICS co-operation, Xi once compared its five members back then to the five fingers of one hand: they are short and long if extended, but form a powerful fist if clenched together. Now that hand has grown bigger and stronger, as its membership expanded last year, yet the essence of Xi’s metaphor is just becoming more relevant. With the world trudging on in a new period of turbulence and transformation, the leader of the largest developing country is poised to…

Gunmen in Indian-administered Kashmir opened fire at a construction site, killing seven people and wounding several others, Indian media reported yesterday, updating an earlier toll. The attack on Sunday is one of the worst this year targeting civilians. The contested territory’s chief minister, Omar Abdullah, called the attack late Sunday “dastardly and cowardly”, while India’s interior minister Amit Shah vowed those responsible would face the “harshest” response. Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between rivals India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, and is home to a long-running insurgency. Attackers targeted workers from outside the Himalayan region, who were reported to be building a road tunnel connecting Kashmir with the far northern Ladakh region, bordering China. New Delhi has pumped billions of dollars into multiple ambitious infrastructure…

MOSCOW: Co-operation between Russia and North Korea is in line with international law and was not directed against the security interests of South Korea, Russia’s embassy to South Korea cited ambassador Georgy Zinoviev as saying yesterday. South Korea’s foreign ministry summoned Zinoviev in protest over what it has called the dispatch of North Korean troops to Russia for deployment in Ukraine and pledged a joint international response. Zinoviev also said at a meeting with first vice-foreign minister Kim Hong-kyun that Moscow and Seoul had opposing positions on the causes of tensions on the Korean Peninsula. | Reuters…

Jakarta: A shallow 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck an island in eastern Indonesia yesterday, the US Geological Survey said. The onshore quake hit the island of Tapat in the Molucca sea at a depth of 10km, it said. There were no immediate reports of casualties on the island which has a population of around 50 000. Indonesia’s meteorology agency said there was no tsunami threat. The vast archipelago nation experiences frequent earthquakes due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity where tectonic plates collide, that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin. | AFP…

THE Border Management Authority (BMA) is struggling to secure the nation’s borders effectively as it grapples with a staggering budget shortfall. This was revealed by Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber in response to parliamentary questions from ActionSA MP Lerato Ngobeni, saying the resources currently available to the BMA are woefully inadequate for the task at hand. Schreiber revealed that 672 border law enforcement officers are stationed at critical entry points across South Africa. This includes a deployment of 616 officers along vulnerable land borders and 56 at maritime border areas. The officers are armed with 127 firearms and four rifles, with plans for an additional distribution of 400 pistols to enhance their operational capacity. Schreiber said a total of 4354 soldiers and 2337 police officers were supplementing the efforts of…

THE Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group (PMBEJD) has questioned why food prices have remained stubbornly high despite favourable economic conditions. The Pietermaritzburg-based non-profit organisation said food prices are not coming down despite there being a marked improvement in input costs due to fuel price decreases, over 200 days of no load shedding, an interest rate cut and a stronger rand. The Competition Commission of South Africa, which released their Essential Food Price Monitoring report earlier this month, also agreed saying they had noted high food prices. Mervyn Abrahams, programme co-ordinator of the PMBEJD, said it was concerning that food prices were not coming down. “Input costs have come down, but food prices are still high. When fuel prices go up, we immediately see an impact and food prices go…

AS A former student of UCT (LL.M. 1990) and a German citizen with close ties to the university, I read your article “UCT postpones lecture amid controversy” with great interest. I clearly understand the emotions, sorrows and anguish on the sides of the Israeli and Palestinian representatives in South Africa. But there is clearly one statement I am missing: you are publishing excerpts out of a public letter signed by 900 UCT students, staff and alumni who describe the Springer publishing house as a “fascist news organisation” without the Cape Times commenting on it. Springer is certainly not an organisation that fits this description at all as it adheres, and always has, same as the Cape Times, to the principles of free speech and opinion, i.e. a freedom of press.…

Two employees of Pioneer Foods were cleared for the third time after they were initially fired following newspaper articles which implicated them in the looting of bottles containing cold drinks after a Coca-Cola truck had overturned on a road. The two employees were employed as a driver and a delivery assistant at Pioneer Foods, when they came across a Coca-Cola truck that had lost its load on a motorway. Passers-by descended on the Coca-Cola truck and helped themselves to the bottles on the ground and in the truck. The two employees were charged with having stopped their vehicle (branded SASKO) at the scene and taking part in the looting, thereby putting their employer’s name into disrepute. The employer relied on various newspaper and social media reports as “evidence” that the…

AS THE world braces for the 2024 US presidential elections, the possibility of a second Donald Trump presidency looms large over Europe. Trump’s foreign policy during his first term was marked by a deep scepticism toward multilateral alliances, with Nato at the centre of his criticism. One of Trump’s main grievances was the failure of many Nato members to meet the alliance’s defence spending commitment of 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP). As a result, he threatened US withdrawal from Nato, a scenario that would devastate the European security architecture. If Trump were to secure a second term, Europe might once again face the spectre of an American pull-back from Nato, a move for which the continent appears ill-prepared. At the 2014 Nato Summit in Wales, members agreed that…

Up to 1 000 women and children needing medical care will soon be evacuated from Gaza to Europe, the head of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Europe branch said in comments published yesterday. Israel, which is besieging the war-devastated Palestinian territory, “is committed to 1 000 more medical evacuations within the next months to the EU”, Hans Kluge said. He said the evacuations would be facilitated by the WHO and the European countries involved. On Thursday last week, UN investigators said Israel was deliberately targeting health facilities in Gaza, and killing and torturing medical personnel there, accusing the country of “crimes against humanity”. Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, said in May that around 10 000 people needed evacuating from Gaza for urgent medical care.…

A US and a Canadian warship sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait together on Sunday, less than a week after China conducted a new round of war games around the island, with Beijing denouncing the mission as “disruptive”. The US navy, occasionally accompanied by ships from allied countries, transits the strait around once a month. China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, also says the strategic waterway belongs to it. The US Navy’s 7th Fleet said yesterday that the destroyer USS Higgins and the Canadian frigate HMCS Vancouver made a “routine” transit on Sunday “through waters where high-seas freedom of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law”. The transit demonstrated the US’s and Canada’s commitment to upholding freedom of navigation for all countries, it said. China said…

BANGKOK: Thai police have arrested 18 people and seized luxury goods after receiving nearly 5,600 complaints about an alleged pyramid scheme, estimating that investors have lost at least 1.61 billion baht ($48 million). The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) seized assets worth 225 million baht, including 29 cars, three houses, and luxury watches. The case involves the iCon Group, which recruited individuals to sell beauty products and health supplements with promises of quick profits. All 18 arrested, including founder Waratpol Waratworakul, deny the charges, claiming that it is a legitimate business model that complies with Thai laws on direct selling. | Reuters…

WASHINGTON: US billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has pledged that the America political action committee (PAC) that he created to support Donald Trump’s presidential campaign will pay $1 million lottery-style every day until election day to a random person from swing states who signed America PAC’s petition encouraging people to register to vote. The petition is aimed at supporting the US constitution’s two first amendments regarding free speech and the right to bear arms and is open for signing to any person who is a registered voter. Democrats are as eligible as Republicans and are only required to sign the petition to participate in the draw. Musk has rallied heavily behind the Republican candidate on his social media platform X. | Sputnik…

Three from four wins is not something to be scoffed at and was it not for another dubious red card, South Africa could've had a full house of wins in the United Rugby Championship (URC). But, there were enough positive signs in the wins from the Stormers, Sharks and Lions to make up for the tough loss the Bulls suffered overseas. The coastal sides returned to winning ways in front of their home fans as the Stormers and Sharks picked up valuable victories in Cape Town and Durban, respectively, to get them away from the bottom three spots in the tournament. Players from the two sides dominate the Independent Newspapers team of the week after not featuring at all last week. The Stormers had a second-half grind and thanks to…