Table of contents for 2023-09-26 in Cape Times

World Heart Day, created and led by the World Heart Federation is an annual event observed on September 29. The aim of World Heart Day is to combat the rising number of people with cardiovascular disease. Following a balanced and healthy diet is an essential way to safeguard your heart against coronary disease. On this day let us pledge to start eating healthily. Add these easily available food items to your diet for heart-healthy and hearty meals. Legumes Legumes are a good source of protein, fibre and antioxidants. They are also a good source of iron, zinc, and folate. Studies have shown that eating one serving of legumes a day helped lower low-density lipoprotein or bad cholesterol levels. Split peas, butter beans, kidney beans, soybeans, broad beans, and chickpeas are…

IT WAS a dark Heritage Day weekend for the family of a 3-year-old girl who fell from a window on the fifth floor of a building in the Johannesburg CBD. South Africa observed Heritage Day this weekend while the family were reeling in pain. The tragic incident happened on Saturday in a building owned by the Johannesburg Social Housing Company SOC (Joshco). According to the City of Joburg’s human settlements department, the little girl was living at the 27 Hoek Street building in Hillbrow. She had been playing on the fifth floor with another toddler when she fell out of a window to the ground floor. On receiving the news, the child's mother, who lives on the sixth floor, rushed to the scene, and security officers called for an ambulance.…

ONCE again we see the ANC easily secured a simple majority last Tuesday to shoot down a private members bill of the DA that sought to end cadre deployment. The sickening thing about politics is that even if members believed this was a good move, they would all vote along party lines. The Zondo commission found cadre deployment laid the foundation for state capture and we all know what that did to the country. So how in all honesty can members, especially if they know cadre deployment is wrong, vote against the motion? It would be interesting to see if the vote was secret, if that would change the status quo. I’m sure it would, as members could then vote with their consciences, and I am sure we would see…

AHEAD of a public memorial service tomorrow for three submariners who lost their lives, the South African Navy has confirmed a Board of Inquiry (BOI) will be convened next month to establish the circumstances which led to their tragic deaths. Lieutenant Commander Gillian Elizabeth Hector (executive officer), Master Warrant Officer William Masela Mathipa (coxswain), and Warrant Officer Class One Mmokwapa Lucas Mojela (coxswain under training) died during a training exercise last week, after they were reportedly swept out to sea while standing on the deck of the SA Navy submarine SAS Manthatisi. The submarine had been conducting a vertical transfer using a SA Air Force Maritime Lynx helicopter, while on its way to Cape Town. In a statement, the SA Navy said: “An internal BOI 05/23 has been launched by…

A DESPERATE bid by Discovery Health to compel the Road Accident Fund (RAF) to process the medical bills of its clients at this stage, until the Constitutional Court has spoken the last word, failed. While the RAF is heading to the Concourt, Discovery Health is embroiled in legal proceedings to try and ensure the victory it scored earlier in the Gauteng High Court remains on the cards - at least for now. A judge earlier put an end to a directive the RAF had issued in August, saying it would no longer pay for past hospital and medical claims issued by members of medical aid schemes. The initial order by Judge Mandla Mbongwe followed an urgent application by Discovery Health after the RAF directive was issued, stating that with immediate…

WHETHER you are a supporter or a critic of the National Health Insurance (NHI) policy of President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose enabling NHI Bill was passed by Parliament in June, both cohorts can extract some succour from the launch of the 2023 Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Global Monitoring Report released ahead of the High-Level Meeting on UHC at the 78th UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York last week. At that meeting on September 21, attended by presidents Joe Biden of the US, Lula da Silva of Brazil and Ramaphosa, other heads of state and government and their representatives reviewed the gaps and solutions recommended “to accelerate progress towards the achievement of UHC by 2030”. The South African government is committed to moving the country towards the goal of UHC through…

France is finally facing up to reality by withdrawing both its ambassador and military from Niger two months after a coup ousted the pro-Paris president, but the pullout marks the most severe setback yet for President Emmanuel Macron’s Africa policy, observers say. Macron had staked France’s strategy in the Sahel region of Africa on the political future of President Mohamed Bazoum, making the country a hub for its forces after successive coups in Mali and Burkina Faso forced the withdrawal of French troops. Paris long appeared reluctant to accept the ousting of Bazoum in a military coup on July 26. But while still insisting Bazoum remains the legitimate president, Macron announced that France’s ambassador would soon leave, followed by all French troops by the end of the year. France must…

LONDON: British nurse Lucy Letby, jailed for life for murdering seven babies at the hospital where she worked, will face a re-trial over an accusation she had tried to kill another newborn, prosecutors said yesterday. Letby, 33, Britain’s most prolific serial child killer of modern times, was convicted in August of killing five baby boys and two baby girls at a hospital in northern England and attacking six others in 2015 and 2016. However, the jury were unable to agree on six charges of attempted murder involving five other infants. The Crown Prosecution Service announced they would now seek a new trial over one of those charges. | Reuters…

WASHINGTON: The US will recognise the independence of the Cook Islands and Niue, two small Pacific nations, President Joe Biden said yesterday, confirming an earlier announcement by officials. Biden spoke ahead of a summit with Pacific island leaders this week, part of a US charm offensive to block further Chinese inroads into a strategic region Washington has long considered its own backyard. Biden said the US had a long history of cooperation with the Cook Islands, dating back to World War II, when the US military built airport runways on one of the chain’s atolls. The White House said the summit will focus on priorities including climate change. | Reuters…

ROME: Oscar-winning Italian film star Sophia Loren had surgery after a fall in her home in Geneva, her spokesperson said yesterday. The operation on Loren, 89, “went well and now she needs to rest and everything will be resolved”, the spokesperson said. The reports said she had an accidental fall in her home in Geneva and had suffered a broken hip. The news was first reported on the Facebook page of Sophia Loren Restaurant, a chain of venues that bears her name. She had been planning to open a fourth one in Bari, Italy, today. | Reuters…

The legal dispute involving the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) and the Independent Media Consortium (IMC): take note of the facts. Back in 2013, the Independent Media Consortium (IMC) was established to acquire Independent Media from its Irish owners. At the time, IMC was known as Sekunjalo Independent Media (SIM). SIM/IMC functioned as a special purpose vehicle (SPV), entirely distinct from Sekunjalo Investment Holdings (SIH/Sekunjalo), and had no association with Sekunjalo. The SPV’s purpose was to hold a 55% stake in Independent Media in exchange for the consortium’s financial contribution. This ownership in Independent Media represented the sole asset of the consortium. IMC comprised various union groups, including Cosatu’s investment arm, Kopano, the military veterans’ association MKVA, several women’s groups, black business groups, and community organisations. Sactwu…

Emergency services on full alert, rescuing trapped residents EMERGENCY services teams had their work cut out for them yesterday responding to a trail of destruction across the province, including rescuing children trapped in houses in Strand while attending to flooded roads, uprooted trees and damaged infrastructure including Eskom power lines. The power utility was forced to suspend load shedding in the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape to ensure technical teams restored the supply of electricity safely. Initially about 82 000 Eskom customers across the province were without power as the extreme weather ravaged the power utility’s network. About 43 000 of these were in Khayelitsha. By the evening, Eskom said it stepped up efforts to restore electricity supply to a large portion of its customer base in Khayelitsha…

YOUR Thursday edition, “Building, car torched, roads blocked in Swellendam protest”, refers. It is really sad to read and hear about the destruction of the Thusong Centre. This centre serviced the poorest of the poor. Furthermore, this centre was essentially the lifeblood of the community. To set it alight is absolutely disgusting and in fact callous. The people who rely on their SA Social Security Agency grants and all sorts of other essential services will now suffer. It is like reacting to the increase of petrol by burning your own car. There seems to be absolute mob violence with no thought whatsoever. It looks like people have lost all sense of morality. Unfortunately, to a large degree I blame our national government. The national government has left people without…

NEW24 recently released a highly illuminating article tracing Paul Mashatile’s career in government service. It made my hair stand on end. It paints a picture of a man shrouded in controversy, totally inept in every position he has held, and mired in suspicion over serious financial irregularities. In short, he is clearly not deserving of his present role and would be a total disaster as president. I encourage everyone to read this frightening article for themselves. It will shock you to the core!…

THE Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) has raised the alarm on the continued murders of police officers in the province. This after an off-duty police officer was killed when he and his colleague came under fire in Eland Street, Philippi, on Friday. This follows the murder of another off-duty police officer in Khayelitsha on September 17. The officer was reportedly sitting in his car with a friend when two unknown gunmen got out of a Toyota Quantum and fired several shots. Police spokesperson Malcolm Pojie said Samora Machel SAPS opened a murder and attempted murder docket for further investigation following the latest attack. “At about 6.30pm two off-duty policemen, both constables, aged 37 and 33, stationed at Bishop Lavis SAPS, came under attack. “Circumstances surrounding the death of…

Following recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) reports on post-Covid 19 pandemic recovery in China’s economy, the second quarter of 2023 saw leadership debates and discussions on the economy in the country. The debates within the Communist Party of China (CPC) reflect an awareness in China of the fragility of the post-Covid pandemic economic recovery. The economic fragility has been further exacerbated by certain trade restrictions being imposed on China by the USA and countries in the European Union (EU). Some of the most recent restrictions imposed by the EU in September 2023 raised serious questions about the EU’s obligations under its World Trade Organization’s (WTO) obligations. Notwithstanding the recent US and EU trade restriction, the debates in China is raised by an awareness around the ease…

Thousands of ethnic Armenians fled the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh yesterday, queuing up for fuel and jamming the mountain road to Armenia after their fighters were defeated by Azerbaijan in a military operation. The leadership of the 120 000 Armenians who call Karabakh home told Reuters on Sunday that they did not want to live as part of Azerbaijan and that they would leave for Armenia because they feared persecution and ethnic cleansing. In the Karabakh capital, known as Stepanakert by Armenia and Khankendi by Azerbaijan, crowds of people were loading belongings into buses and trucks as they left for Armenia. Refugees who reached Armenia told Reuters they believed the history of their breakaway state was finished. “No one is going back – that’s it,” said Anna Agopyan, who reached…

The US Space Force has had internal discussions about setting up a hotline with China to prevent crises in space, US commander General Chance Saltzman said yesterday. The chief of space operations said a direct line of communication between the Space Force and its Chinese counterpart would be valuable in de-escalating tensions but that the US had not yet engaged with China to establish one. “What we have talked about on the US side at least is opening up a line of communication to make sure that if there is a crisis, we know who we can contact,” Saltzman said, adding that it would be up to President Joe Biden and the State Department to take the lead on such discussions. The comments come as the US Space Force looks…

Kampala: Uganda is investigating claims that a former senior ICC official was involved in funding the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army LRA), the country’s attorney general said. Brigid Inder, a special adviser on gender to the former International Criminal Court prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, denied the claims on X. A lawyer for former LRA child soldiers said, “numerous victims have alleged that between 2006 and 2017, Ms Inder … financed Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army”. Kony, still at large, staged a rebellion more than three decades ago, killing more than 100 000 people. Inder was involved in peace talks. In 2005, the ICC accused Kony of war crimes. | AFP…

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia said yesterday it had decided to end light-touch oversight of its nuclear activities by the UN atomic watchdog and switch to full-blown safeguards, a change the agency has demanded for years. Saudi Arabia has a nascent nuclear programme it wants to expand to include activities like proliferation-sensitive uranium enrichment. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said for years it will develop nuclear weapons if regional rival Iran does. Riyadh has yet to fire up its first nuclear reactor, allowing its programme to still be monitored under the Small Quantities Protocol, an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency. | Reuters…

Revenge is a dish best served cold and Western Province delivered it frozen to the Highveld Lions at the Wanderers over the weekend. Province were on the receiving end of a couple of soul-destroying losses to the Lions last season, particularly the Wanderers. The One-Day Cup final defeat at the Bullring rankled with the men in blue and white for a long time, while a further setback in the Cricket SA Four-Day Series was a bitter pill to swallow. But a determined Province outfit turned up at the Wanderers on Saturday to exact revenge. And while the 10-wicket victory may not yet have significant consequences, Province delivered a clear message of intent. The Lions were reeling at 21/7 at one stage, with Nandré Burger (6/38) and Beuran Hendricks (3/40) wrecking…

THE Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) says it has dispatched a task team to probe concerns at the Bellville Labour Centre. People reportedly queued from the early hours of the morning and are often sent home without being assisted at the labour centre. A task team from the UIF Head Office in Pretoria will intervene in UIF payment concerns, the department said. Bellville South resident Gershwin Adonis said he was among those who struggled to get his application for unemployment benefits approved. “On the first day I was standing at the back of the line, there were more than 50 people in the line in front of me. After I realised that I was not going to be assisted any time soon I left and I applied on their website. But…

THE South African Weather Service (SAWS) has issued an Orange Level 6 warning for damaging winds and waves leading to possible disruption of ports and small harbours between Plettenberg and Durban today. An orange level 9 warning was issued for disruptive rain last night over the south-western parts of Eastern Cape Province and the adjacent interior. This after gale-force winds and heavy rains wreaked havoc in several parts of the Western Cape at the weekend. “A cut off low system moves over the province and is combined with a high pressure ridging in ahead of it, associated with a tight pressure gradient and gale force winds, with high seas. The swell direction will be from the south to the south-east. The bays are expected to be not so protected during…

WE ARE in mourning at the loss of three brave officers who perished in an attempted “vertical transfer” on SAS Manthatisi. Our debt to these heroic officers and valiant mariners of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. Our nation will never forget their sacrifices. Dedicated naval officers who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. We are indeed proud of our mariners who were ordinary South Africans trained to undertake extraordinary missions. Serving in the Navy is an unselfish calling.Brave men and women stepped forward in defence of peace and freedom. As we grieve we should remember those who died and those who were injured and the supreme price they paid in defence of our nation. Tamra Bolton once offered these profound…

IRONICALLY, in his attempt to analyse the “stumbling blocks” obstructing the emergence of a non-racial society, Professor Nico Koopman of Stellenbosch University manages to stumble over the relevant issues while ignoring the wrecking ball effect of the Employment Equity Act on the goal of non-racialism (Cape Times, September 22). Echoing Martin Luther King, Koopman rightly states that non- racialism means not measuring one another’s worth and value on the basis of skin colour. But where he loses the plot is by insisting that diversity is needed because “excellence is not possible without diversity and excellence thrives where there is rich diversity”. Here Koopman is dead wrong. Excellence is synonymous with competence, which is not dependent on diversity. Orchestras, for example, may comprise a diverse range of musicians regarding age,…

The Department of Health’s contentious dress code policy proposal, which forbids nurses from wearing headscarves, should be legally challenged due to its infringement on the country’s Constitution. A circular signed by Director-General Sandile Buthelezi and distributed to all provincial health department heads outlines the national nurses’ uniform policy, which explicitly prohibits the wearing of headscarves while on duty. Additionally, the policy requires moustaches and beards to be well-groomed in accordance with occupational health standards, and it mandates clean and neat hair that must be tied if longer than shoulder length. Wigs and extensions must fit under a theatre cap. While maintaining hygiene and preventing infections is crucial, serious concerns arise regarding the true motivations behind the prohibition of headscarves for nurses. Our Constitution upholds the freedom to practice one’s culture,…

Kosovo’s interior minister yesterday said at least six suspected assailants accused of participating in deadly clashes in northern Kosovo on Sunday were now in Serbia and receiving treatment at a hospital. The accusation came a day after the killing of a police officer during an ambush and an ensuing firefight at a monastery near the border with Serbia marked one of the gravest escalations in Kosovo for years. “Six wounded terrorists are being treated in the hospital of Novi Pazar. We ask Serbia to immediately hand them over to the Kosovo authorities, so they can face justice,” interior minister Xhelal Svecla said. Earlier yesterday, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti said a police operation was ongoing. The site of the firefight was sealed as investigators sifted through evidence following a late-night…

Pakistan said yesterday it was investigating two local distributors of Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche’s Avastin cancer drug after 12 diabetic patients injected with the drug went blind. The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) said the health authorities in Punjab had launched the investigation into local use of the drug Avastin, licensed for use in Pakistan. Javed Akram, the province’s Minister for Specialised Health, said police were questioning two men they believe to be the drug’s distributors in the state. Following the incidents, the Drap instructed the importer to recall the suspected batches of Avastin 100mg injection, which it said had been created illegally. On its website, Roche said Avastin was approved in more than 130 countries, including the US, to treat several types of cancer. Roche’s Pakistan spokesperson did…

DNIPRO: Russia launched drones and missiles at the Black Sea port of Odessa in an overnight attack yesterday, Ukrainian officials said, the latest assault on Ukraine’s vital agriculture sector as Moscow seeks to exploit divisions between Kyiv and its European neighbours over grain exports. Granaries were destroyed by cruise missiles, and Odessa’s port was “significantly damaged,” according to Ukraine’s southern command, which said part of the attack was carried out by Russian warships. The strikes and falling debris shattered windows and ignited several fires, including at a home and warehouse buildings, officials said. No one was killed. | Washington Post…

LOS ANGELES: The Writers Guild of America (WGA) union has reached a “tentative” deal to end the strike currently crippling Hollywood. The movie and TV industry has been brought to a near standstill in recent months after members of the WGA walked out in May over issues including pay and conditions but now it looks as if the strike is nearing its end after a tentative agreement was reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The deal comes after more than 140 days of walkouts which halted production on major movies and TV shows across the entertainment industry. It could bring the industrial action to an end if it is approved by the union’s board and members. But the end of the WGA strike will not get…

Mauricio Pochettino admitted struggling Chelsea need to “grow up” after their troubled season hit a new low with a 1-0 defeat against Aston Villa on Sunday. Pochettino’s side have won just once in six league games under Pochettino after Ollie Watkins’ second-half goal sealed the points for Villa at Stamford Bridge. The Blues are languishing in 14th place, just four points above the relegation zone, after failing to score in their last three games. Chelsea’s latest flop was sparked by young defender Malo Gusto’s dismissal after 58 minutes for a challenge on Lucas Digne. After a pitch-side VAR review, referee Jarred Gillett upgraded the initial yellow card to a red for dangerous play. Adding to Pochettino’s woes, Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson – who has scored just once since his move…