Содержание выпуска: 2022-11-30 — Cape Times

DESPITE challenges in the South African media landscape, Independent Media executive chairman Dr Iqbal Survé has continued to defend media freedom in his company. Survé also emphasised the importance of black people owning their stories as opposed to white liberals who previously dominated the industry. He was speaking in what was dubbed, “one of the most sought-after interviews of the year”, with TV talk show host Dr Onkgopotse JJ Tabane’s Power to Truth broadcast on Monday night. “Media is very important for freedom… “As black South Africans during apartheid, we were always presented differently by the very same media… and my motivation for buying Independent Media came from my daughter, because our home in Cape Town was a home of diversity and lots of different people used to come there…

THE Section 89 independent panel probing President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm scandal has all the evidence to conclude that he has a case to answer. This is according to ATM leader Vuyo Zungula who has been leading the charge to have Ramaphosa held accountable over the Farmgate scandal. The panel is expected to hand over its report to National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula today. Zungula said yesterday that evidence showed there was a prima facie case. “We hope the report will speak to those facts regarding paid work, the risk of conflict of interest and the unlawful instruction handed to the Presidential Protection Unit. “The report is not expected to say the president must be impeached. It’s expected to say, based on the evidence at hand, it will be…

IT WAS the execution of Sikhumbule Nkonki, an alleged associate of Yanga “Bara” Nyalara, who was shot by members of an alleged rival extortion gang that led to a massacre in May last year, which saw 12 people murdered and seven others wounded. This is according to a court summary of facts, containing the alleged roles of Nyalara and three others – Wandile Tofile, Manelisi Ngumla and Lundi Zweni, in the mass shooting incidents that gripped Khayelitsha. Nyalara was sought by police in July as the Western Cape’s most wanted man. The accused made a brief appearance in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court yesterday, where they were also handed an indictment with 32 charges, which includes 18 counts of murder, seven counts of attempted murder, and six counts of contravention…

The head of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said yesterday he still feared a Turkish ground invasion despite US assurances and has demanded a “stronger” message from Washington after seeing unprecedented Turkish deployments along the border. Turkish officials said the army needed just days to be ready for a ground incursion into northern Syria, which they have been attacking with long-range weapons and warplanes for days. The bombardments come after months of threats by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan of a new ground invasion against Kurdish forces, which he considers to be terrorists. “There are reinforcements on the border and within Syria in areas controlled by factions allied to Türkiye. We noticed this and, yes, this is new,” said SDF chief Mazloum Abdi. Syrian Kurdish forces have received backing from…

London: People in China who attended weekend protests against Covid-19 restrictions say they have been contacted by police, as authorities begin clamping down, according to a media report. Several people in Beijing said police had called demanding information about their whereabouts. Yesterday, officials renewed a promise to speed up efforts to vaccinate older people. China has seen record numbers of new cases in recent days. Reports also say that police were stopping people and searching their phones to check if they had virtual private networks set up, as well as apps such as Telegram and Twitter, which are blocked in China. | IANS…

Bogotá: Colombia is to deploy 400 soldiers to fight drug traffickers operating across its rural southern borders, after a recent spike in killings and internal displacement, the South American country’s government has said. President Gustavo Petro, the country’s first left-wing president, had called the meeting with senior military officers after recent fighting between armed groups left 18 dead and displaced a dozen families in the southwestern region of Putumayo, bordering Ecuador and Peru. Those clashes pitted a dissident faction of the FARC guerrillas, the “Carolina Ramirez” front, against another armed group, the “Comandos de la Frontera.” | AFP…

THE Section 194 committee yesterday dismissed an application by Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane to have two of its evidence leaders removed from the inquiry into her fitness to hold office. Mkhwebane’s legal counsel, advocate Dali Mpofu SC, brought the application on Monday against advocates Nazreen Bawa and Ncumisa Mayosi. Although the evidence leaders made written submissions rebutting the accusations against them and Mkhwebane submitting an answering affidavit, they were not given an opportunity to make oral presentations. Only parliamentary legal adviser Fatima Ebrahim was allowed to reflect on Mkhwebane’s application. There was initially an issue with the late submission of an affidavit by Mkhwebane’s legal team. “I consider the fact that there has been no submission; that is a train smash. We will proceed with the deliberations,” committee chairperson Qubudile…

AS THE country planned to move ahead with green hydrogen projects, implementing renewable energy in South Africa would require a transition framework. This is according to experts, as President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday once again said the country was determined to meet the challenges of climate change. Ramaphosa was speaking at the special-edition Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium South Africa (SIDSSA) conference held at the Century City Conference Centre. The three-day conference seeks to promote continental green hydrogen cooperation. It is being attended by senior expert delegates from around the continent and Europe. “We look forward to welcoming more of the firms in the green hydrogen value chain and associated technologies into our market. We hope to see these international firms partnering with South African firms as we increase our renewable energy…

AS THE country observed 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, Hanover Park mothers spoke out about the secondary trauma caused by murders in their community. Avril Andrews, founder of the Alcardo Andrews Foundation, said people had become used to living with violence. The foundation was established in 2015 in honour of Andrew’s son who lost his life to gang violence, and his mum’s quest to assist other mothers affected by the loss of their children. “Hanover Park is red at the moment with the ongoing violence which include rapes, gang violence and murders on a daily basis. “And the awareness is so important to our community who has almost normalised the violence they experience on a daily basis,” she said. “It is very unfair that our communities feel this…

A R400 million cocaine bust in the Western Cape is among the SAPS Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation’s (Hawks’) highlighted successes for the second quarter of the 2022/23 financial year. At a media briefing yesterday, Hawks head Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya provided a progress report on the directorate’s work since the previous quarter. It emerged that 827 suspects were arrested in the second quarter of the financial year, and appeared before courts across the country. During the same period, between July and September, 217 criminals were convicted and sentenced. The Hawks and the Western Cape traffic department arrested three suspects – Ebrahim Kara, Mishack Ngobese and Elias Radebe – on August 4, who were found in possession of the consignment of cocaine, estimated to be worth R400 million. The suspects were…

Israeli forces killed four Palestinians in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank yesterday, Palestinian and Israeli officials said, the latest in a months-long series of deadly clashes between security forces and Palestinians. Two brothers were killed near the hub city of Ramallah and a third man was shot in the head in the town of Beit Ummar near the city of Hebron in clashes with Israeli forces, the Palestinian health ministry said. The Israeli military confirmed the two clashes and said it was aware of the reports of two Palestinians killed near Ramallah and was investigating. Later yesterday, Israel’s military said that a female soldier was injured in a ramming attack around the Kochav Yaakov settlement near Ramallah. The suspected Palestinian attacker was shot by police and later…

The real estate unit of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s Adani Enterprises has won the right to redevelop India’s largest slum, Mumbai’s Dharavi suburb, with a 50 billion rupee (R10.4bn) bid, an official said yesterday. Believed to be the largest slum in Asia, Dharavi is a crowded area that houses thousands of poor families in cramped quarters in the centre of India’s financial capital. Many residents have no access to running water or clean toilets. The redevelopment was first mooted in the 1980s as a way to develop valuable land while providing proper housing to those living there. “It will be a township, a city within a city, with mixed land use, both commercial and residential,” said SVR Srinivas, CEO of the Dharavi Redevelopment Project, which will cover 253 hectares as…

LONDON: Mastercard lost an appeal in a London court yesterday against a ruling in a £10 billion-plus collective action that allows the claims of around three million people who have died since the lawsuit began to continue. The global payments processor is facing a lawsuit brought by consumer champion Walter Merricks on behalf of about 46 million adults in the UK. Merricks alleges that Mastercard charged excessive “interchange” fees – the fees retailers pay credit card companies when consumers use a card to shop – between May 1992 and June 2008 and that those fees were passed on to consumers as retailers raised prices. | Reuters…

BUDAPEST: A bicycle pedalled by passers-by powers up a Christmas tree-shaped light installation in Budapest, as the local mayor applies sustainable technology to celebrate the festive season while saving on surging energy costs. The tree only lights up fully while someone keeps pedalling really hard, which encourages families with their kids to stop and give it a try. The bicycle also charges a battery that powers up the rest of the lights around the Budapest square. Gergely Orsi, the mayor of Budapest’s 2nd district, said his municipality decided to cancel most of the usual Christmas light decorations this year due to the energy crisis. | Reuters…

Cameroon’s first-choice goalkeeper Andre Onana has been suspended for disciplinary reasons, the country’s federation (FECAFOOT) said, after he was left out of the squad for their 3-3 draw with Serbia at the World Cup on Monday. Onana was marked as “absent” on the team sheet, with coach Rigobert Song saying he had to “put the team first ahead of an individual” amid reports of a falling-out over tactics. Cameroon are third in Group G on one point, and need to beat Brazil in their final group game on Friday to stand any chance of reaching the last 16. “The Cameroon Football Federation hereby informs the public that following Mr Rigobert Song Bahanag’s decision, head coach of the Indomitable Lions, the player Andre Onana has been temporarily suspended from the group…

from page 1 abduction, concealment of crime and misuse of state resources. UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said irrespective of what the panel decided, the Phala Phala matter was not going to go away. “Ethically he should have told us from day one what happened at the farm. Whether he declared the money to Sars (SA Revenue Service) or the Reserve Bank,” Holomisa said. He said while they could not predict the outcome of the panel report, this would not be the last word on the matter. “Legally, there might be technicalities but ethically is where this case is now and this is precisely where Ramaphosa has failed the test. This is a leader who has taken the oath of office and people are not interested in legalistic jargon, but judge…

THE DA’s Federal Executive (FedEx) has acknowledged receiving communication from the Western Cape legislature speaker, Masizole Mnqasela, following a request for him to reapply for party membership, which was terminated this week. “We have received correspondence from Mr Mnqasela and it is being dealt with by the FedEx,” FedEx chairperson Helen Zille said. Mnqasela was given until yesterday morning to respond, after the DA terminated his party membership because of disparaging remarks he had made about the party or decisions of its structures. In a radio interview, Zille said the DA had a clause in its constitution that if a person continued to disparage the party or decisions taken by its structures, they could be warned by the FedEx. If they continued to do so, then the member effectively terminated…

RETIRED South African Post Office (Sapo) staff are aggrieved by their medical aid contributions and benefits being ripped away by the financially crumbling parastatal. Elderly beneficiaries, who received medical aid cover as part of their retirement package, say they were not informed beforehand that contributions would not be paid. They have now been left to pay cash from meagre grants to cover their chronic medication bills. Kensington resident Billy Baatjes, 83, who worked for Sapo for 38 years, said he was unable to pay the deficit required to remain a medical aid beneficiary. “I find myself in a dire financial situation having to pay cash for my chronic medication where previously I was covered comprehensively. “But now, with the collapse of Sapo and their cash flow issues, we found out…

Champions of ‘the people shall govern’, strike while the iron is hot WE ARE in the golden hour. That may sound warm and pleasant as if we have entered Durban, South Africa’s self-styled “playground”, where year-round warm weather welcomes everyone to make the most of the area’s natural outdoor lifestyle. But you need only look at the political devastation wreaked by the ANC’s insistence on imposing unconstitutional restrictions on the electoral system reform process in the past weeks to know that is not what I have in mind. Instead, I am using the phrase in a sense deployed by police: the golden hour refers to the period immediately after someone has committed a crime, when evidence is abundant, and detectives need to move fast to collect it. We are…

Increasing reports of people getting “long Covid” have exposed the challenges in combatting the pandemic. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries to launch “immediate” and “sustained” efforts to tackle the “very serious” crisis. Experts said that long Covid was likely to result in growing pressure on social and medical resources, a shrinking labour force and an economic downturn in the long run. Also known as post Covid condition, it is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an illness that occurs in individuals with a history of probable or confirmed Sars-Cov-2 infection, with symptoms that last for at least two months and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis. The WHO estimated that 10% to 20% of Covid-19 patients had been left with mid- and long-term symptoms such…

London: England and Wales are becoming less white and Christian, according to new official data revealed yesterday. The number of people in England and Wales identifying their ethnic group as white has fallen by around 500 000 over a decade, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. About 81.7% of residents in England and Wales described themselves as white on the day of the 2021 census, down from 86% a decade earlier. The second most common ethnic group was “Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh” at 9.3%, up from 7.5% in 2011, Daily Mail reported. Two-thirds of Londoners now identify as being from an ethnic minority, from a group that is not “white British” but which includes white people from other nationalities. For the first time since the census began…

Moscow: The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group conceded yesterday that a Zambian student he recruited from a Russian prison has been killed fighting in Ukraine. The admission by Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin comes two weeks after Zambia demanded an urgent explanation from Moscow. The Kremlin-linked businessman said Lemekhani Nathan Nyirenda, 23, “died a hero” fighting with Russian forces. Prigozhin recruited Nyirenda from a prison in the Tver region, north of Moscow. Nyirenda was studying nuclear engineering at the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute. He was handed a jail term in April 2020 of nine years and six months. | AFP…

It was interesting to hear Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber mention, in the aftermath of the 27-13 win over England, that the November tour had been “the most enjoyable four weeks, despite the fact we’ve only won 50% of our games”. I can fully understand why. The Boks had lost 19-16 to Ireland and 30-26 to France, and then smashed Italy 63-21 and toyed with England at times at Twickenham. “I thought in terms of the working relationship between the coaching staff, performance staff, and the players, I thought there was clarity and we gelled well,” Nienaber continued. “Although we didn’t get results in the first two games of the tour, I thought we were in with a chance. “We were creative with the plans we made, stuck with them, and…