Table of contents for 2021-12-24 in Cape Times

Lisa Isaacs lisa.isaacs@inl.co.za THIS has been a year of challenge and triumph for South Africans as the country grappled with the unknowns of new Covid-19 variants and managing their economic and social effects. In the first few weeks of the year, the country made strides in acquiring vaccines with then-health minister Zweli Mkhize announcing that South Africa would receive one million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and 500 000 in February. The country confirmed more than 1.3 million infections at the time. But just as South Africa came to grips with the pandemic, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in June confirmed the new Delta variant had become dominant in Gauteng and quickly spread throughout the country. Delta, causing severe infections and hospitalisations, drove a third wave of Covid-19…

Nicola Daniels and Siphokazi Vuso THIS year many households are living with grief as the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in the sudden deaths of fathers, mothers, brothers, uncles, aunts, grandparents and children – leaving countless families to close the year without their loved ones. According to provincial health data, the official number of Covid-19 related deaths as at December 15 was 13 105. The figure however did not represent the people who died without being tested, or at home. The family of the late Winston Cogill, the longest Covid-19 patient at Groote Schuur Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU), said they were taking it a day at a time. The 54-year-old from Diep River had spent 122 days in ICU. Today marks five months since his death. His widow, Claire Cogill, said…

Chevon Booysen chevon.booysen@inl.co.za THE ANC in the Western Cape has called for the suspension of the City’s SIU head, Reynold Talmakkies, who is facing fraud and corruption charges after being arrested when he handed himself over to police this week. Talmakkies, a former cop, is co-accused with Asif Khan and Paul Scheepers. In a statement, ANC MPL and community safety spokesperson Mesuli Kama said: “Something is seriously wrong with the City of Cape Town’s law enforcement unit, which not only carries the same acronym as the official and national Special Investigative Unit, but through name-hijacking wants to give the impression it has special powers and authority. “This not-the-real-thing bunch, which the City calls the Special Investigative Unit, is beset with problems starting at the top. According to reports, its head,…

Five Minds Guy Morpuss Loot.co.za (R235) Viper THE Earth’s spiralling population has finally been controlled. Lifespans are limited to 80 years, except for those who make an extreme choice: to become a commune. Five minds sharing one body, each living for four hours at a time. But with a combined lifespan of nearly 150 years. Alex, Kate, Mike, Sierra and Ben have already spent 25 years together in what was once Mike’s body, their frequent personality clashes leading to endless bickering, countless arguments, and getting themselves stranded on a Russian Arctic freighter. Wanting to buy upgrades for their next host body, they decide to travel to a Death Park where time can be gambled like money. But things go very wrong when Kate accepts a dangerous offer, and one of…

| Julian Richfield A FUNNY LIFE Michael McIntyre Loot.co.za (R249) MACMILLAN Although not an avid fan of stand-up, from his Big Show and The Wheel, I really like McIntyre’s comedic style and thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. My favourite kind of comedy is that based on everyday life and situations and this he excels at. His first autobiography, Life & Laughing ended with “what I perceive to be my big break at the televised Royal Variety Performance in 2006. I was thirty years old and after being a uniquely tremendous loser in love I had met and married Kitty, the love of my life and mother of our then new-born son Lucas. Kitty was and remains out of my league.” Michael McIntyre tells this next part of his…

OMICRON, the latest Covid-19 variant of concern, was discovered in samples collected on November 8 in South Africa. It rapidly replaced Delta as the dominant variant in the country and now accounts for nearly 100% of cases in South Africa. Since then, this latest “variant of concern” has spread throughout the world and is surging in several countries, including the UK, Denmark, Republic of Ireland and, most recently, the US. Two factors appear to contribute to its success: high transmissibility and its ability to evade the protection from vaccination. Omicron’s potential to overpower national health systems worries many public health experts and has led to some countries introducing strict control measures. The UK is heading into the festive season in a dangerous situation. New Omicron cases are doubling approximately every…

A boat disaster off the coast of Madagascar this week has claimed 85 lives, maritime officials said yesterday, after retrieving 21 more bodies a day earlier. A total of 138 people had been aboard the 12-metre-long wooden vessel, which sank off the island’s north-eastern coast on Monday, they said. Fifty people have been rescued, most of whom had been on the bridge of the vessel when it foundered, while three others remain missing, they said. “The toll stands at 85 dead, with 21 bodies recovered” police general Zafisambatra Ravoavy said. The dead include five children.…

Chinese scientists have found a new microbe that can directly digest crude oil and produce methane, paving the way for exploitation of depleted oil fields, the China Science Daily reported yesterday. The research, published in the journal Nature, focused on a new member of methanogenic archaebacteria family, Ca. methanoliparum. In traditional recovery process, the crude oil underground is driven by the pressure of water or chemicals. More than half of the deposits are difficult to recover. Based on this research, the crude oil could be degraded into methane before the mixed recovery of oil and gas with higher efficiency.…

The town hall in the 12th arrondissement of Paris is lit up for the festive season but the traditional Christmas tree in the public square is absent. In its place stands a tree-shaped sculpture made of recycled wood. The municipality’s choice is in line with a trend across France to favour sustainability over tradition, and it has highlighted political divides ahead of the presidential election in April next year. “A felled tree is the product of a monoculture, and monoculture is dangerous for the soil and a tree that is chopped down is no longer present in nature to play its role in the capture of C02,” said Guy Tabacchi, deputy mayor of the 12th arrondissement, which aims to eliminate felled Christmas trees from public places by 2026. The argument…

THE Super Rugby draw for next year has been revised to delay trans-Tasman travel for as long as possible and minimise potential disruption from Covid-19 restrictions, competition organisers said yesterday. The season had been set to begin on 18 February, with Australian-based teams facing their New Zealand counterparts from the outset to maximise trans-Tasman rivalries. But the New Zealand government will not allow quarantine-free access for foreign nationals until the end of April at the earliest, forcing a rethink by competition organisers. Instead, the first nine rounds will feature local derbies with the New Zealand-based teams playing one another while the Australians do likewise. Round 10 will be played in Melbourne and round 11 at Australian grounds, with hopes that New Zealand travel restrictions will have been lifted for round…

From page 1 “This year fortunately we had the first priority group which is nurses and other health workers who got the vaccine. “Since then there have not been that many cases of deaths of nurses and that has given us much relief,” he said. “We were making a lot of noise just before they got vaccinated but things have been better, much better than they were. Especially from late last year during the second wave.” The South African Depression and Anxiety Group’s operations director, Cassey Chambers, said since the beginning of Covid-19 their call volumes had increased each month. They currently log 2 500 calls every day. Sadag is open throughout the holidays – Christmas Day and New Year’s Day included – and is able to provide free…

Lisa Isaacs lisa.isaacs@inl.co.za THREE years after the death of her newborn baby as a result of listeriosis, Thenjiwe Dodo of Bloemfontein said the trauma for her and her family continued as the class action law suit against Tiger Brands, involving more than 900 claimants, dragged on. At eight months pregnant in 2018, Dodo was preparing for the final stretch of her pregnancy – a miracle one, as she and her husband had tried for eight years to start a family. She said eating polony was a way to make sure she and her unborn child were nourished. “Everything was well, the baby would play every morning. Then one morning I could feel the baby wasn't playing like he used to. “I first went to a private doctor and he told…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za THE death of nine people yesterday has spiked the number of fatalities on Western Cape roads to more than 110 since the start of the festive season. ANC treasurer in the Central Karoo, Ronnie Klink, his son and daughter were among six people who died after their vehicle was involved in a head-on collision with a minibus taxi on the N1 between Beaufort West and Leeu Gamka. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) spokes- person Deanna February said their teams responded to the incident around 12.50am. “The incident involved 10 patients in total. Unfortunately, six patients sustained fatal injuries, one patient sustained serious injuries and two minor injuries. “One patient was transported to Beaufort West Hospital and one refused transport. A total of two ambulances, a rescue vehicle and…

| OWN Correspondent The Butler Danielle Steel Loot.co.za (R240) Pan Macmillan TWO different worlds and two very different lives collide in Paris in this captivating novel by Danielle Steel. Joachim von Hartmann was born and raised in Buenos Aires by his loving German mother, inseparable from his identical twin. When Joachim moves to Paris with his mother in his late teens, his twin stays behind and enters a dark world. Meanwhile, Joachim begins training to be a butler, fascinated by the precision and intense demands, and goes on to work in some of the grandest homes in England. His brother never reappears. Olivia White has given 10 years of her life to her magazine, which failed, taking all her dreams with it. A bequest from her mother allows her a…

“I DON’T like cricket, oh no … I love it!” That used to be the slogan for the famous summer sport in South Africa, from the song Dreadlock Holiday by English rock band 10cc. But over the last few months, there hasn’t been much love for cricket in South Africa. There has been a much-needed probe into racism and discrimination in local cricket through the Social Justice and Nation-building (SJN) hearings conducted by Cricket SA (CSA), which heard a number of testimonies from black players and coaches who felt that they hadn’t always received fair treatment over the years. The appointments of Mark Boucher as the Proteas coach and Graeme Smith as the director of cricket at CSA have also been questioned in the SJN process. On the field, the…

A French fugitive convicted of a double murder was arrested after 20 years on the run when a storm damaged his yacht in waters off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, police said yesterday. Thierry Ascione, 62, and another French national sailed to the Talaud islands situated between the Philippines and Indonesia on October 3 to repair the boat. Police raided the boat and found Ascione on board without a passport. Ascione was found guilty of the murder in 1991 of two French nationals who owned a restaurant in Guatemala. He was arrested in 1995 in Paris and remained in custody until 2000. He fled six months before his trial began.…

Libyans have voiced a mix of frustration and anxiety after elections set for today were postponed, which some had hoped would help turn the page on a decade of violence. After weeks of speculation, authorities confirmed on Wednesday that the poll, part of a UN-led peace process, would be delayed. “I had picked up my voting card and I was waiting for the election,” said trader Nabil al-Sharef, in Tripoli. “For me, this delay is a setback and a disappointment,” the 51-year-old said. The poll was meant to take place just over a year after a landmark east-west ceasefire. But the run-up to the country’s first-ever presidential election has been overshadowed by disputes over its legal basis and the candidacies of several controversial figures. The electoral board has suggested…

Thousands of Zimbabweans queued at banks and currency exchange points across the country yesterday, some of them sleeping in the lines with their babies, in a desperate attempt to obtain cash. Most are unlikely to be successful as the inflation-ravaged country is experiencing an acute currency shortage. “I have been in the queue since last Thursday,” Shepherd Mabamba said outside a currency exchange office. “The manager just told us that they have no money so we should come back tomorrow.”…

LIVERPOOL’S clash with Leeds United and Watford’s trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers, scheduled for Sundday, became the latest Premier League games to be postponed due to Covid-19 outbreaks yesterday. A total of 12 matches have now been called off in the past two weeks as Britain battles record numbers of positive Covid-19 cases due to the Omicron variant of the virus. Everton’s request for their match against Burnley to be postponed has been rejected despite being without 11 players due to injury or Covid-19 infection. Earlier this week Premier League clubs rejected the option of temporarily halting the season to allow a circuit breaker for infections. However, the traditional Boxing Day schedule of fixtures has already been disrupted with the potential for more to go…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za AFTER a gruelling year for many, locals will use the New Year period to lift their spirits and enter 2022 in a celebratory fashion. The city is not short of activities and events over this period, and as lockdown alert level 1 means that the curfew starts at 12am, many event organisers have taken this into account by cutting the party just a little earlier to allow for celebration and adherence to the rules. This year the V&A Waterfront will again celebrate the New Year by shining a beam of light into the sky that will be visible for some distance across Cape Town. Violinist and DJ duo DeVille will lead the celebration with house remixes infused with hypnotic electric violin. Halfway through their 20-minute performance they…

Chevon Booysen chevon.booysen@inl.co.za SEXUAL assault-accused traffic chief Farrel Payne will not be suspended from his position while he is expected to go on trial in the Cape Town Regional Court next year. Currently out on R5 000 bail, Payne faces charges of sexual assault, crimen injuria and attempt to commit a sexual act. He will go on trial March 23 after a co-worker accused him of sexually assaulting her at the workplace. Department of Public Works and Transport (DPWT) spokesperson Jandré Bakker said they would not review their decision to not institute disciplinary action against Payne after the Director of Public Prosecutions rejected Payne’s representations made to the senior public prosecutor. “The department is unable to review its own decision,” said Bakker. Anti-GBV and community activist Alexis Serra, having submitted…

Reviewer: Orielle Berry Songbirds Christy Lefteri Loot.co.za (R230) Manilla Press CHRISTY Lefteri’s superbly textured book is so finely structured that one is left at the end with a feeling of simply wanting it to go on and on, despite the neat circle that closes at the finale. The author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo has once again outdone herself in this multi-faceted story. Set in Lefteri’s native Cyprus, the narrative delves into a range of issues that today are so close to the bone – the issue of stealing from the land for financial gain; the ongoing issue of migrants and their exploitation and, above all, the vulnerability of human beings; yet the incredible triumph of the human spirit that rises above this. Nisha is a migrant from Sri Lanka…

Never Ken Follett Loot.co.za (R265) Pan Macmillan VISIONARY in scale, and the first contemporary novel in over a decade from number one worldwide best-selling author Ken Follett, Never imagines the unimaginable: the imminent threat of World War Three. “Every catastrophe begins with a little problem that doesn’t get fixed.” So says Pauline Green, president of the US, in Follett’s nerve-racking drama of international tension. A shrinking oasis in the Sahara Desert; a stolen US Army drone; an uninhabited Japanese island; and one country’s secret stash of deadly chemical poisons: all these play roles in a relentlessly escalating crisis. Struggling to prevent the outbreak of a world war are a young woman intelligence officer, a spy working undercover with jihadists, a brilliant Chinese spymaster, and Pauline herself, beleaguered by…

Pandemic is litmus test of even more complex crises to come Since March 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions to life as we know it, with wide-ranging spillover effects permeating various sectors. While Africa fared better than predicted in terms of health impacts, Covid-19 has severely affected the continent’s agri-food systems and jeopardised 20 years of economic recovery, reversing years of progress in improving the livelihoods of millions of people. Amid the triple threat of Covid-19, climate change, and fragile food systems, the Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS) at AKADEMIYA2063 in partnership with the AU Commission (AUC) convened the 2021 ReSAKSS Annual Conference last month. The discussions focused on the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on African food systems and policy options to ensure recovery…

The World Bank said it agreed with its partners yesterday to repurpose $37 million (R578m) to help Lebanon’s public school teachers survive a crushing economic crisis. The World Bank and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office would divert the money from the Lebanon Syrian Crisis Trust Fund, which aims to assist Lebanese communities accommodating Syrian refugees, the bank said in a statement. It would be used to “provide financial incentives to public school teachers suffering from the severe economic and financial crisis in Lebanon to ensure they can purchase fuel to travel to work,” the statement added.…

Like children dreaming of presents under the tree, the scientists at the Jupiter control room at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou are patiently waiting for December 25. The James Webb Space Telescope – soon to become the most powerful ever to be launched into space – is set to take off on Christmas Day from the base in France’s South American department. “We can’t wait for it to launch,” says Jean-Luc Mestre, engineer and vice-director of operations at the French National Centre for Space Studies. This rocket’s payload, the Webb telescope, is a piece of technology worked on by thousands of people for over a quarter of a century.…

Around 1.2 million people in England were likely infected with Covid-19 last week, representing 1 in 45 of the population and a new pandemic record as the Omicron variant spreads rapidly, official estimates showed on Thursday. London was worst hit with an estimated 1 in 30 people infected with the coronavirus last week, according to the figures from the Office for National Statistics. In the previous two weeks, an estimated 1 in 60 people in England were infected. The records date back to May last year, so do not cover the peak of the initial wave of the pandemic. Omicron is likely by now the domi- nant variant circulating in England, the analysis suggested. Modelling from the Office for National Statistics showed Omicron, as of December 16, had matched…

Princess Charlene of Monaco, who has been receiving specialised care outside the principality, is still some months away from a full recovery, the palace said yesterday. Charlene, the wife of Prince Albert II, is being treated for extreme fatigue away from her family after returning to Monaco last month following months away in South Africa. Her absence from Monaco’s annual national day last month had fuelled new concern over her health, but also speculation about the state of the couple’s marriage. The princess “is recuperating in a satisfactory and reassuring manner, although it may take a few more months before her health has reached a full recovery”, a palace statement said. Albert and the couple’s children were planning to visit Charlene during the Christmas holidays, it said, asking for…