Table of contents for 2021-10-06 in Cape Times

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za THOUSANDS of National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) members have embarked on a nationwide strike, after they reached a deadlock with engineering sector employer associations over wage increases. Employees are calling for an 8% increase across the board for the first year, and a consumer price index (CPI) plus 2% improvement factor for the second and third year. If CPI plus 2% falls below 6%, Numsa said employers must offer 6% or re-open negotiations, to break the deadlock. “Bosses in the engineering sector do not want to give anything back to workers. They selfishly benefited from the sacrifice which workers made last year, when a Standstill Agreement was signed, and no increases were given, in order to cushion the industry against the ravages of the Covid-19…

Siyabonga Mkhwanazi siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za SEXUAL violence by teachers is still prevalent in schools, the latest South African Council for Educators (Sace) annual report has found, with 11 teachers fired after they were found guilty of various charges of misconduct. Most of the teachers were fired for sexual violence against learners. In the first quarter, the organisation investigated three cases of sexual violence against learners and in the second quarter this shot up to 25 cases of sexual offences. Some of the cases teachers faced were sexual harassment of their colleagues as well as learners and also assaulting learners. In the Western Cape, one teacher was fired for sexual misconduct, and has been deemed unfit to ever work with children again. Another teacher in the province was suspended for five years and…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za EDUCATORS will continue to be honoured today for their outstanding work and commitment under challenging circumstances, including Covid-19, at the annual National Teaching Awards (NTA). President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to address the 21st edition of the awards, which will be hosted by the Department of Basic Education in Gauteng. The event comes as World Teachers’ Day was celebrated yesterday under the theme “Teachers at the Heart of Education Recovery”, which recognised teachers' tireless efforts to keep teaching despite hardships like the Covid-19 pandemic. Chadley Davids, who wears several hats, including being an assistant grade head and safety officer at Protea Heights Academy in Brackenfell, is one of the celebrated staff. Not only did he develop Covid-19 information resources at the school, but used this programme to…

VACCINATING against Covid-19 is starting to bear fruit for football fans in South Africa. For the first time in more than a year, fans will be allowed at the Bafana Bafana game, as well as the Soweto Derby. However, entry to both games will be free for those who have taken the jab. South Africa banned fans from games when the country went into lockdown in March last year following the outbreak of Covid-19. But on October 12, Bafana Bafana will play before their fans during the Qatar 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifier against Ethiopia at FNB Stadium. Then, on November 6, the DStv Premiership clash between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates – one of the greatest football matches in the world – will be played in front of fans…

A DELHI hospital performed a rare surgery in which an artificial heart in a 56-year-old patient from Iraq was removed through a complex procedure, after his ailing heart was found to have recovered completely, hospital authorities said yesterday. Dr Ajay Kaul, chairperson of Fortis Hospital’s Heart and Vascular Institute, and his team of medical experts performed the surgery, removing a left ventricular assist device from the Iraqi national. The device was inserted in the patient in 2018. So far, only a few such cases have been reported worldwide. Fortis Hospital has created a record by successfully performing the first surgery of this kind in India and saving the patient’s life. The hospital said when the patient was first admitted he had “terminal heart failure. Since no surgical procedure was possible,…

Berlin: A 96-year-old former secretary at a Nazi death camp who tried to flee before her trial has been released from custody in Germany ahead of the next hearing, a court spokesperson said yesterday. Irmgard Furchner had been due in court last Thursday for the opening of her trial on charges of complicity in the murder of more than 10 000 people at Stutthof camp in occupied Poland. But she failed to turn up after leaving her retirement home near Hamburg in a taxi, which took her to a subway station. Police detained her several hours later and she was remanded in custody before the resumption of her trial on October 19.…

Government forces have rescued abducted children who were forcefully recruited by the al-Shabaab jihadist group in northern Mozambique, the UN said yesterday. The UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) could not give further details on the numbers of youngsters involved, for fear of jeopardising efforts to liberate more children. “Children have been rescued, not released” by the militants, Unicef spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva. They were saved by “government forces”, he said. The Islamic State-linked al-Shabaab has been terrorising the south-east African country’s gas-rich Cabo Delgado region since 2017, raiding villages and towns in a bid to establish a caliphate. The insurgency has grown bolder, with attacks including a co-ordinated raid on Palma in March that left dozens dead and displaced thousands. Last week Human Rights Watch said al-Shabaab had…

Group A: Riyad Mahrez-captained reigning African champions Algeria have an impressive home record against Niger in World Cup qualifying, scoring 10 unanswered goals in two matches. Another convincing home win is on the cards for a team boasting an African record 29-match unbeaten run, but second-place Burkina Faso are likely to remain level on points with Algeria by defeating Djibouti. Group B: Table-toppers Tunisia have won all four previous World Cup qualifiers against Mauritania and there is nothing to suggest they will not extend that perfect record in Rades. A Tunisian side captained by Saint-Etienne's Wahbi Khazri and coached by Mondher Kebaier enter the match boosted by two impressive victories while the Mauritanians have disappointed when losing twice. Group C: It is difficult to imagine any result in…

Thobile Mazibuko thobile.mazibuko@inl.co.za South African Fashion Week (SAFW) is back at Mall Of Africa this October for the Autumn/Winter 2022 collections. This season, 29 designers will unveil their collections at the fashion week from October 28-30, followed by the SAFW Trade Show in the Crystal Court at the Mall of Africa in Gauteng. Some of the new designers who will be showcasing include the six finalists of the Scouting Menswear Competition. They are Marquin Sampson, Refuse Clothing Brand, Saint Vuyo, Umsweko, Vanklan and Boyde. The trade show will exhibit 40 designers of men’s and women’s wear as well as accessories ranging from footwear and handbags to costume jewellery and millinery from October 31 – November 1. And then, from December 3-5, designers will showcase their work at the SAFW Pop…

From page 1 tenders were tenders where different units had access to a panel of service providers who had been approved during the tender process. “They can then draw on service providers for an hourly rate. Under a directorate such as Corporate Services, some of the services (work) requested could be strategic planning, coaching and leadership development, facilitation, the drafting of planning documents, ICT systems etc. “Because the statements of work are not public, there’s a loss of transparency and that creates the potential for ethical lines to become blurred for what work is sold and procured by the City.” Cape Town activist Roscoe Palm slammed Kesson and the City for the use of taxpayer money, “with no opposition, or scrutiny”. “Craig Kesson has redistributed billions of Rands of…

Chevon Booysen Chevon.booysen@inl.co.za A MURAL dedicated to the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, was unveiled at the Iziko Planetarium yesterday, as part of International Space Week celebrations. Speaking during a short unveiling ceremony, Consul General of Russia in Cape Town Aleksei V Malenko, said this year the celebration fell on October 4 – exactly the same day back in 1957 when the first artificial satellite in the history of mankind was launched into Earth's orbit. "But this is not what I would like to dwell on today. The year of 2021 marks the 60th anniversary of the first space flight of a human being who was the Soviet pilot Yuri Gagarin. On this occasion the Consulate General of the Russian Federation has the honour to present you with…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za THE City awarded PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) a three-year contract which accumulated to over R28 million – issued by its Corporate Services department, under the management of executive director Craig Kesson, who will be joining the company as a partner next month. The Cape Times last week reported on Kesson’s PwC appointment, after questions had been raised about transparency and a possible conflict of interest surrounding it. Asked whether they were able to make the reports or work done by PwC public, the City declined, as “this is for internal use only per conditions with the tenderers”. Regarding the three-year tender that was awarded to at least nine companies including PwC, the City’s spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibongo said: “At the original specification formulation at bid initiation stage the total work…

Chevon Booysen chevon.booysen@inl.co.za “UNREPENTANT” wife killer Jason Rohde has failed in his attempt to overturn his conviction for the murder of his wife, Susan Rohde, after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) dismissed his appeal yesterday. However, the former property mogul was successful in having his sentence discounted and will now serve an effective 15 years behind bars, after Judge Halima Saldulker said there were no compelling and substantial circumstances to depart from the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years. Judge Saldulker set aside the 20-year prison sentence ordered by the Western Cape High Court after Rohde was convicted on a charge of murder and a charge of defeating the ends of justice, when he had rearranged the crime scene in their Spier Hotel room to make it seem as…

Siphokazi Vuso siphokazi.vuso@inl.co.za FRUSTRATED residents protested outside the Mitchells Plain Home Affairs office yesterday after they were told that the office could only assist 100 people a day. Community activist Richard Williams said people were furious that they could not get assistance after arriving and queueing at the office from as early as 4am. “What happened was that they only helped 100 people at a time. And the people were very unsatisfied because they have to pay twice now for travelling from their homes to the offices, and when they reach 100 they say they are done and people now have to return home,” he said. Resident Diana Fanie, who said she took a day off work yesterday, was turned away after queuing for hours. “I had to put in…

IN HIS letter, “Proper healthcare systems needed in the Western Cape”, published on Monday, Mr Reggie Snyders misses critical points on the quality, accessibility, functionality and responsiveness of the provincial health-care system and the country’s as a whole. The truth is that South Africa is in need of a proper health-care system, but that the Western Cape stands out as the sole beacon of hope for all residents. Life expectancy refers to the average number of years one is expected to live under certain predetermined factors in relation to average mortality rates. Thus, access to health-care services is a key driver of life expectancy and related concerns. As a result of our provincial government’s strong health platform, life expectancy in the Western Cape remains the highest in South Africa over…

French Catholic clergy sexually abused some 216 000 minors in the seven decades since 1950, a “massive phenomenon” that was covered up for decades by a “veil of silence,” an independent commission said yesterday. The commission’s two-and-a-half-year investigation was prompted by outrage over a growing number of abuse claims and prosecutions against Church officials worldwide. When claims against lay members of the Church such as teachers at Catholic schools are included, the number of child abuse victims climbs to 330 000 since 1950. “These figures are more than worrying, they are damning and in no way can remain without a response,” commission chief Jean-Marc Sauve told a press conference. “Until the early 2000s, the Catholic Church showed a profound and even cruel indifference towards the victims.” Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort,…

LONDON: British firefighters said yesterday a fire at London’s Westminster underground station, next to the Houses of Parliament, was under control after it sent fire engines to tackle an incident. “Six fire engines and around 40 firefighters are at the scene of a fire at Westminster Station on Bridge Street in Westminster,” London Fire Brigade said on Twitter earlier. They later said the incident was under control. A witness saw several hoses being extended into the station, with police vans also in attendance. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is away at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester while parliament is in recess.…

WASHINGTON: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen yesterday said it was “utterly essential” for Congress to lift the federal debt limit ahead of an October 18 deadline to avoid US default, but added that she opposes using a loophole in US currency law to resolve the crisis. The idea comes from a legal loophole that allows the Treasury to mint platinum coins in any denomination it chooses. Some have suggested minting $1 trillion coins to break an impasse in which Republicans have refused to back an increase in the $28.4 trillion debt ceiling. October 18 is when Treasury will exhaust its extraordinary borrowing capacity, putting the dollar’s reserve status at risk.…

Dr Amos Wallace Mgoqi, chairman of AYO Technology solutions, who was nominated for the post of Chief Justice of South Africa announced yesterday that he would be withdrawing from the process. Mgoqi said in a statement that receiving a nomination for the post came as a great surprise to him. “Honoured by this acknowledgement, I would of course be pleased to serve our country in this capacity. While I know I have the requisite intellect, integrity, and experience to fulfil such an august post, having had time to reflect, it occurs to me that at times, we can best serve our people and country by stepping aside to let others who may be a little more energetic and agile, take the baton. “And so, having taken my advanced years…

Siphokazi Vuso siphokazi.vuso@inl.co.za THE DA has defended the inclusion of money laundering accused Nora Grose as a PR candidate in the upcoming local government elections, saying the party cannot remove her from the position she qualified for, as a result of the criminal charges against her. But opposition parties have accused the DA of “double standards” as the party was quick to demand the “stepping aside” of others, even when they were not criminally charged. Grose first appeared in the Atlantis Magistrate’s Court for alleged misappropriation of funds meant to assist with food relief in May, and is currently out on R10 000 bail. She is accused of money laundering relating to food parcels and allegedly funnelling money to a church. Investigations allegedly revealed that Atlantis pastor and chairperson of…

Staff writer COMPANY director Taelo Itumeleng Polycarp Kgobokoe has been arrested on fraud and corruption charges over alleged malfeasance relating to a tender worth R600 000. The 45-year-old faces eight charges of corruption and fraud. Kgobokoe and a juristic person, an entity called Ihlathi Trading 21cc T/A massive Dynamic, appeared in the Beaufort West Magistrate’s Court yesterday. He was arrested in Harrismith, Free State by the George based Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team on September 30. Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani said the officers pounced on him following the arrests of Beaufort West’s Mayor Quinton Louw, his predecessor Noel Constable, along with Central Karoo District Municipality speaker, Mkhululi Hangana, and municipal official Norwood Kotze. They handed themselves over to the Hawks’ on September 17 and made a brief…

But the GBV-F fight is left to advocacy and lobby groups, and communities SOUTH Africa is considered to be the rape capital of the world, with a woman getting raped, according to women’s rights advocacy groups, every twenty-six seconds. This should be appalling enough for all levels of government to be hands on deck in fighting the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide (GBV-F), but instead this has been left to advocacy and lobby groups and communities struggling on their own. In 2018, under the banner of #TheTotalShutdown, femme and queer bodies and allies in the country took to the streets petitioning government, particularly at national level to do something about GBV-F regarding policymaking and called for change with 24 demands. These included a demand to the…

VELD fires that have been ravaging some parts of the country for the past two weeks have destroyed over 143 000 hectares of land, killing 210 animals in the process. In a media statement yesterday, Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism’s public relations officer Romeo Muyunda said that the fires continued to be a big challenge in Namibia, with reports being received on a daily basis. A total of 27 veld fires have been recorded countrywide, burning 59 farms in the areas of Outjo, Otjiwarongo, Steinhausen district in Windhoek, Okahandja, Tsumeb, Tsintsabis and some areas in the Zambezi region. “A massive total of 135 livestock and 75 wild animals were killed in the fires, which also led to the destruction of infrastructure like fences and water pipes,” said Muyunda.…

La Paz: Bolivia’s opposition has called for demonstrations against left-wing President Luis Arce to demand the release of former head of state Jeanine Anez and an end to “political persecution”. The powerful Santa Cruz Civic Committee, a regional movement of business leaders and social organisations, called for a “big march” on Sunday and a national strike the following day. Former Bolivian presidents Carlos Mesa and Jorge Quiroga and the governor of the rich eastern region of Santa Cruz also joined the call. The opposition is demanding the government “put an end to political persecution” over a “false coup”, and release political prisoners.…

Queensland: Amid climate change concerns as world leaders look to reduce their carbon footprints, the global warming crisis has already wiped out 14% of the world’s coral reefs since 2009. A report released yesterday by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network warned that climate change combined with overfishing and coastal development had destroyed at least a quarter of all marine animals and plants. In what has been the largest-ever analysis of global coral reef health, the survey spanned 12 000 sites in 73 countries through two million individual observations.…

The European Tour yesterday added the Aviv Dubai Championship to its 2021 schedule, with the $1.5million (about R22.5m) event returning for a second straight season and replacing the cancelled Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player in South Africa. The event will be played on the Fire course at Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 1-14, and forms a November Dubai double-header with the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, which will take place from November 18-21 on the neighbouring Earth course. The event, called the “Golf in Dubai Championship” last year and won by Frenchman Antoine Rozner, follows the Mallorca Golf Open (October 21-24) and the Portugal Masters (November 4-7) in being added to this year’s schedule. Players in the two Iberian swing events and the penultimate round in Dubai will…

Mihlali Baleka mihlali.baleka@inl.co.za Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos feels that there are “people who do not want to see the national team succeed” after recent incidents in camp ahead of South Africa’s back-to-back 2022 World Cup qualifiers against Ethiopia. On Monday Broos made a sober admission, saying that Orlando Pirates midfielder Goodman Mosele didn’t report for camp and didn’t give an indication of his whereabouts. But as if that was not stressful enough for the former Cameroon coach, yesterday, Broos told the media that Mamelodi Sundowns organised for some of their players to be vaccinate on Monday – something that saw striker Thabiso Kutumela being withdrawn from Bafana’s camp as they didn’t want to complicate his recovery process after the jab. It is not the first time that…