Table of contents for 2024-06-11 in Cape Times

Siphokazi Kayana and Nomfundo Mkatshwa AS ARTIFICIAL intelligence (AI) has become increasingly sophisticated and mainstream, it is also clear that it will have a significant impact on almost every industry and field of business. That includes legal proceedings, such as arbitrations. The emergence of generative AI is an exciting development that has the potential to make lawyers and legal work more efficient and set forth a new era of legal services. It goes without saying that while the legislative and regulatory landscape of AI is yet to be developed, it is worth looking at how AI, particularly generative AI tools, will impact arbitrations. Will these tools be a help or a hindrance? A helping hand There are several areas within arbitrations where AI tools could be incredibly helpful. Generative AI…

South African crochet designer Tanele Zwane is making a name for herself as her craft gains more recognition in the fashion industry. Zwane, who owns a sustainable fashion brand, Subtle T Designs, has been announced as one of the Woolies Youth Makers Competition winners for 2024. Launched in June 2023, the competition aims to find budding entrepreneurs and help them take their businesses to the next level. With her unique and sustainable designs, Zwane was fortunate enough to be shortlisted as one of this year’s winners to receive the mentorship she needs to improve her product knowledge, market confidence, and business acumen and to help build solid foundations for the retail world. “This is a milestone moment for us, and we are ‘hooked’ on the immense joy this recognition brings.…

The upward trend in the Western Cape tourism sector continues as the province recorded more than 3.2 million visitors between January and April 2024, a 17% growth in the number of visitors compared to the same period last year. Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC Mireille Wenger said the latest provincial tourism report showed the 53 participating attractions across the six regions of the Western Cape recorded a total of 3 206 546 visitors between January and April. Other highlights from the report, compiled by the Western Cape Government’s (WCG) tourism, trade and investment promotion agency, Wesgro, showed that Table Mountain National Park received 1 176 683 visitors. The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway recorded 425 515 visitors while Table Mountain National Park: Cape of Good Hope recorded 371 620 visitors…

Brand recognition and awareness are critical elements of effective brand management, yet they serve distinct purposes. Brand recognition refers to the ability of consumers to identify a brand based on visual or auditory cues such as logos, taglines, packaging, or jingles. For example, the iconic crown of Tshepo Jeans or the DNA symbol of DNA Brand Architects are instantly recognisable to most consumers. Brand awareness refers to the extent to which consumers are familiar with a brand and can recall it from memory. A consumer may recognise the name Duma Collective even if they haven’t yet used their services. Both brand recognition and awareness are crucial indicators of a brand’s success, helping to attract attention and build a positive reputation through word-of-mouth and customer loyalty. “Good PR can help…

Police in Gqeberha are investigating a double murder and have opened an inquest after the bodies of two Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) employees – a husband and wife – and their 11-year-old child were discovered in the family home at the weekend. Eastern Cape police spokesperson Priscilla Naidu said that at about 4pm on Sunday, neighbours heard gunshots from a house in Bluewater Bay. “It is alleged that at about 4 20pm, neighbours heard several gunshots … and immediately contacted police. The deceased persons sustained gunshot wounds. They were identified as Mbulelo Nkqayana, 46, a municipal employee, his wife, Yolisa Nkqayana, 37, and their daughter Kazimla Nkqayana, 11. A 9mm firearm was found lying next to the male,” said Naidu. She said the motive for the shooting is yet…

US SECRETARY of State Antony Blinken was back in the Middle East yesterday to promote a Gaza truce and hostage release plan as Israeli bombardment again rocked the Palestinian territory. After a stop in Egypt to meet President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Blinken was due to head to Israel for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on how to end the conflict raging since Hamas’s October 7 attack. Netanyahu has been politically buoyed in Israel by a successful, though bloody, hostage rescue mission on Saturday – but damaged by the departure of a member of his war cabinet, Benny Gantz, on Sunday. Gantz, a former army chief, criticised Netanyahu especially for failing to outline a post-war governance plan for Gaza, arguing that tough decisions are needed to achieve “real victory”. The…

MOGADISHU: A violent clash at the weekend between two clans in central Somalia has killed at least 55 people and injured another 155, medical officials said yesterday. Somalia’s federal government is not only struggling to contain violence by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab group, but is also facing clan-based clashes over land and water. The clash between the Dir and Marihan clans, who jointly fought to oust al-Shabaab from Galmudug region, erupted on Saturday in Abudwaq and Herale towns over grazing land and watering points. “We believe al-Shabaab is indirectly behind this strange war,” said a security adviser to the president of Galmudug state. “These are two brotherly clans.” | Reuters…

LILONGWE: An aircraft carrying Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima and nine others has gone missing, Malawi’s presidency said yesterday. “All efforts by aviation authorities to make contact with the Aircraft since it went off the radar have failed thus far,” Malawi’s Office of the President and Cabinet said in a statement. Chilima, 51, was aboard a Malawi Defense Force aircraft that left the capital Lilongwe at 09.17am (0717 GMT), it said, adding that search and rescue operations were ongoing. The aircraft had been scheduled to land at Mzuzu International Airport at 10.02am, according to the statement. In 2022, Chilima was arrested and charged with graft over a bribery scandal Last month, a Malawian court dropped the charges. | Reuters and AFP…

LONDON: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak yesterday dismissed rumours that he would quit before the July 4 general election, as criticism about his early departure from D-Day commemoration events rumbled on. The Conservative leader issued an apology after outrage from veterans’ groups that he declined to join other world leaders at an event in northern France to mark the 80th anniversary of the invasion. His decision to instead record a television interview, was the latest misstep on the campaign trial for the vote. But Sunak, who opinion polls predict will lead the Tories to a defeat to the main opposition Labour party, warned against thinking the election result was a foregone conclusion. | AFP…

All-rounder Nadine de Klerk has called on the Proteas Women’s team to be “positive and brave” on their tour of India. The Proteas have arrived on the subcontinent for an all-format tour that includes three ODIs, three T20Is and a solitary maiden Test. It is the first tour in more than a decade where the Proteas Women’s team will be without former head coach Hilton Moreeng. Bowling coach Dillon du Perez has been handed the reins on an interim basis. The team also has a new batting coach in Baakier Abrahams, who has enjoyed great success with the double SA20 champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape the past two seasons, and will hopefully look to replicate that with the Proteas Women’s team. There has certainly been significant progress since Abrahams took over…

from page 1 that it would not enter into a government that included the DA. Al Jama-ah leader Ganief Hendricks said yesterday his party was invited to talks by the ANC at the weekend. Hendricks said the ANC was given a mandate to govern and serve even with 40% of the vote, but warned it against joining hands with parties that would return the country to “white rule”. Hendricks said that the freedom South Africans enjoyed today would be reversed if the DA and its “Moonshot Pact” became portfolio committee chairpersons and would also delay amendments that entrenched apartheid. “Al Jama-ah outrightly rejects a GNU because it will include values of the Moonshot Pact which is anti-humanitarian, supports the genocide of Palestine and its policies are anti-poor, leaving the vast…

THE EFF says it will turn to the Constitutional Court after the Western Cape High Court dismissed their application to declare that MPs were violently removed from two State of the Nation Address (Sona) sittings. The EFF had turned to the court arguing that their rights to freedom of speech were infringed and their members’ violent removal was “was both unlawful and unconstitutional”. Both Sona proceedings experienced prolonged delays due to EFF members raising numerous points of order and halting proceedings until they were physically removed from both sittings. Judge Derek Wille said the EFF “allegedly wilfully, violently and with premeditation unlawfully disrupted certain presidential proceedings”. In a statement, the EFF said “brutality against elected public representatives who uphold their oath of office sends a crude message to its citizens”.…

Nyanga and Khayelitsha residents were left reeling at the weekend following two more mass shootings that claimed the lives of eight people. Four people were killed in Nyanga on Sunday after suspects opened fire at a hostel. Just the day before, a shooting claimed the lives of four people, including three children, at a local barbershop in Khayelitsha. Three others were hospitalised. In relation to the Nyanga incident, police spokesperson Andrè Traut said: “Provincial Serious and Violent Crime detectives are pursuing leads in the quest to apprehend the suspects who shot and killed two men aged 32 and 38 and two females aged 22 and 25 in Nyanga yesterday (Sunday) afternoon at around 1.40pm. According to reports, unknown suspects opened fire at the victims at the Nyanga Hostels in Bush…

Analysis is now under way to obtain an updated estimate of the leopard population density in the Cederberg region after the Cape Leopard Trust research team survey identified 37 different adult cats so far. The Cape Leopard Trust research team’s large-scale survey of the Cederberg spanned an area of over 1 600km2 of rugged landscape, and ran from June to December 2023. Sixty-seven paired camera stations were placed along jeep tracks and hiking trails in this region of mostly pristine montane fynbos habitat consisting of provincial and private nature reserves, commercial and guest farms, and communal lands. “The research team has finished sifting through the more than 240 000 photos with the help of WildID – an online machine learning programme that semi-automates the process of identifying and labelling the…

A PROBE into Theewaterskloof municipality Deputy Mayor John Michels and Speaker Derick Appel’s 2023 Rugby World Cup trip has found insufficient evidence to support claims that they used public funds for the visit. The senior municipal officials faced allegations of maladministration, corruption or fraud following the trip to France last year to watch the rugby. Local Government MEC Anton Bredell initiated an investigation; however, the municipality was accused of lack of transparency after it failed to respond to Bredell’s letter dated November 2023. It only responded two days later to a follow-up letter dated April 28 this year. “Please accept the sincerest apologies for the delay in responding to your letter. The municipality refutes the allegations of maladministration, corruption, fraud and/or other serious malpractices as baseless and unfounded,” said municipal…

THE STRUGGLE was never anyone’s choice but a decision that transpired from feeling a pinch and a realisation of not accepting exploitation and oppression from whoever. When people engaged in the Struggle no one knew it would produce wonderful, decent, reasonable, and smart people. But before speaking about the “twins”, especially the one under discussion, it suffices to give credit to the wonderful fathers of the liberation of Africa: Haile Selassie, Kwame Nkrumah and Leopold Senghor, whose reputation is tainted by the imperialists, colonialists, capitalists, some of whom are directly and indirectly involved in their deaths. Kenneth “KK” Kaunda is the product of that heavy Struggle against colonialism. The Struggle was not like what is happening today of self-dubbed revolutionaries or dubbed by those who sing praises to them for…

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi readied yesterday to unveil his coalition government after a surprise election setback lost his Hindu-nationalist party an overall majority. The 71 members of his government took the oath of office after Modi on Sunday, with 11 posts going to coalition allies who extracted them in exchange for their support – including five in the top 30 cabinet posts. There are no Muslim lawmakers among his third-term lineup, unlike his past two governments, both formed after his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a majority. Modi’s decade as premier has seen him cultivate an image as an aggressive champion of the country’s majority Hindu faith, worrying minorities including the country’s 200-million-plus Muslim community. “Honoured to serve Bharat”, Modi posted on social media after he was sworn…

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen began trying to piece together a coalition yesterday after the far right surged in a European Parliament election, spurring French President Emmanuel Macron to call a snap national vote. A rightward shift inside the European Parliament may make it tougher to pass new legislation to respond to security challenges, the impact of climate change or industrial competition from China and the United States. Von der Leyen, the German president of the EU’s powerful executive body, emerged strengthened from the four-day election across 27 countries that concluded on Sunday, as her centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) gained seats. But to secure a second five-year term, von der Leyen needs the support of a majority of the EU’s national leaders and a working majority in…

Washington: Moderna’s prototype combination influenza and Covid vaccine outperformed currently authorised standalone shots for those viruses in a clinical trial, the US biotech firm said yesterday. Pfizer and Novavax are also working towards combination vaccines to fight respiratory illnesses, but Moderna is the first to report data from an advanced stage clinical rival. The shot, which uses messenger RNA technology and is called mRNA-1083, was tested in an ongoing clinical trial of 4 000 adults, split into age groups of 50-64, and 65 and older. In both cases, it produced stronger immune responses compared to the standard flu vaccines for those age groups, it said. | AFP…

A new report by the Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC) has found that from January to April, the online conversation about immigrants in South Africa received more than 1.5 million mentions, with continued calls for deportation. The report is the eighth in the organisation’s “Promoting Democracy and an Equitable Society” series which analyses news media posts on X over governance decisions regarding immigration to South Africa, comparing it to social media discourse on the social media platform. The total number of news media mentions on X tracked in the dataset was 2 370. “The 48 unique authors represent the handles for official news media and journalists that are posting stories or updates on X. The total number of reposts of the posts was 23.17k. This means that the…

Defence and Military Veterans Minister Thandi Modise and senior leadership in the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) were expected to hand over the mortal remains of Sergeant Mbulelo David Ngubane to his family yesterday . This follows Ngubane’s tragic death during a clash between M23 rebels and Southern African Development Community (SADC) forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on May 30. Thirteen SANDF members were wounded during the incident. The ceremony was held at the Waterkloof Air Force Base. On June 6, the SANDF announced the name of Ngubane, who died in the line of duty on May 30 in Sake in the DRC, according to Defence Corporate Communication’s head Siphiwe Dlamini. Ngubane, 39, an operational medical practitioner in the SA Military Health Service (SAMHS),…

First sitting to elect president, speaker to proceed on Friday Political parties are racing against time to form a new government as Chief Justice Raymond Zondo confirmed that the first sitting of the National Assembly (NA), where the next President of South Africa and Speaker of Parliament are expected to be elected will be on Friday. The sitting will take place amid threats of legal action by the Jacob Zuma-led uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), which warned Parliament not to proceed with the swearing-in of newly elected MPs while it planned to challenge this year’s election results in court. The party initially asked that the declaration of the results be postponed, but the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) went ahead, citing that the objections were insignificant in number. Yesterday,…

Rugby legend Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira has thrown his support behind Stellenbosch University’s Annual Social Justice Walk on Youth Day, when a group of walkers will make their way from Stellenbosch to Kylemore to raise funds and awareness of student debt. Mtawarira will be joined by the director for the Centre for Social Justice, Professor Thuli Madonsela, and Stellenbosch University Rector and Vice-Chancellor Professor Wim de Villiers. “Despite NSFAS funding, we fund-raise every year, and some of us pay from our pockets to keep disadvantaged students at university. They are the so-called ‘missing middle’ students. “At the beginning of the year, we faced a brutal accommodation shortage in which we had to provide students with food from our pockets and a few donations,” said Madonsela. “On June 16 we walk to…

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has upheld the City’s Municipal Planning Tribunal’s decision to impose a record R1 million penalty for unauthorised building work. The penalty relates to a developer building a 22-unit apartment block where only a single dwelling is permitted. The developer has not been named. The building – which includes two storeys of apartments, covered parking and a refuse room – is located in Sunkist, part of the Oakdale suburb in Bellville, and encroaches on neighbouring properties, the City said. The site is currently zoned for Single Residential 1 (SR1), which permits only a single residence and related buildings covering not more than 50% of the site. Despite the City ordering a stop to construction in September 2022, the developer continued building and tenanting the unauthorised apartment block. Following…

An off-duty police officer is fighting for his life in hospital after he was hit by a hail of bullets in Delft at the weekend. The 35-year-old constable stationed at Parow police station suffered serious wounds in the neck and back on Sunday in Symphony Way, Leiden. Police spokesperson Wesley Twigg said that Delft police have registered an attempted murder case. “Police members attended the crime scene where they found the victim with gunshot wounds to his body. The victim was taken to a medical facility for medical treatment. “The suspect(s) fled the scene and are yet to be arrested. The motive for the attack forms part of the police investigation,” said Twigg. Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) Western Cape secretary Xolile Marimani said they learnt of the…

In the midst of the chaos and despair that followed the storm which wreaked havoc on oThongathi in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape last week, a glimmer of hope emerged in the form of the solidarity, compassion, and extraordinary generosity displayed by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the private sector, and individuals. While the country’s attention has been understandably fixated on the recently concluded elections and coalition negotiations, the dire situation faced by the storm victims in small towns has reminded us of the resilience and kindness that define the human spirit. The storm left a trail of destruction, with homes, community halls, and schools bearing the brunt of nature’s fury. While the local and provincial governments responded swiftly to provide assistance to the affected residents, it is the outpouring of support…

The two-day BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting began in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod yesterday with the Indian delegation being led by Dammu Ravi, Secretary (Economic Relations), at the Ministry of External Affairs. Taking place after the formation of the third Modi government in New Delhi, this would also be the first meeting of BRICS Foreign Ministers since the expansion of the group was formalised in January with the inclusion of new full members: Egypt, Iran, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov chaired the first session yesterday which also saw the participation of South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Naledi Pandor, Brazil’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mauro Vieira, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shokri and several…

KAMPALA: An employee of a environmental group campaigning to stop construction of a $5 billion (R94bn) crude oil pipeline in east Africa who the organisation said had been detained by the Ugandan military last week has been released. Stephen Kwikiriza, from the Ugandan environmental pressure group Environment Governance Institute (EGI), has campaigned to stop the 1 445km East African Crude Oil Pipeline which will carry crude from oilfields in western Uganda to a port on Tanzania’s coast. Yesterday, EGI said the activist was dumped on a highway about five hours’ drive from the capital Kampala on Sunday night. “He was beaten and is visibly in bad shape,” it said. .…

KYIV: Ukraine’s military said it damaged three Russian surface-to-air defence systems yesterday in missile attacks on the Moscow-occupied Crimea peninsula. The attacks struck an S-400 system in Dzhankoi and two less advanced S-300 systems near Yevpatoriya and Chornomorske resulting in “significant losses” for Russian air defences, Ukraine’s general staff said yesterday. Ukraine’s military said its strikes shut down radars on the Russian systems and detonated ammunition. Russia has launched ballistic missiles on southern Ukraine from the Crimea peninsula that Moscow seized and occupied in 2014. | Reuters…