Cape Times 2021-10-11

From page 1 her mother and best friend, being strong enough to put aside her grieving to ensure that the farewell to her beloved “Barbie” as she affectionately called her, went off without a hitch. “As a family, we have been overwhelmed by the huge number of tributes which have poured in for Val. From tributes heralding her professional capabilities, assisting organisations in the city with projects, and streams of journalists who she helped, mentored and cared for were all of great comfort to us.” The veteran journalist’s father, John Boje, said although he knew his daughter was a special person, he did not know just how special she was until he heard and read all the wonderful things people had said about her since the news of her passing.…

Odwa Mkentane odwa.mkentane@inl.co.za POLICE are investigating the death of an off-duty Mfuleni officer, his wife and two children in a fire. Officer David Lekhethe, 48, his wife, and children aged eight and four years, were killed in the blaze, believed to have been sparked from an electrical box on Friday. Two other children survived and are in hospital. Police spokesperson Novela Potelwa said the cause of the fire is the subject of police investigation. “Police reports indicate a tenant on the premises heard screams after 9.30pm coming from the main house and went to investigate. The tenant tried to gain access to the house. “The bodies of the 48-year-old police sergeant and his 38-year-old wife were discovered in the bedroom of their home in Ringwood Street, Wesbank, Mfuleni. Their two…

Staff writer MAJOR South African retailers have removed apple juice items from their shelves following the recall of LiquiFruit products. An investigation confirmed that a limited quantity of apple juice concentrate supplied to Pioneer Foods, which owns LiquiFruit, contained elevated levels of patulin. Patulin is a toxin that commonly occurs in rotting apples, and the recall was based on the presence of patulin exceeding 50 parts per billion (microgram/kg), which is the regulatory threshold. Retailer Pick n Pay said the recalled products were removed from shelves from Friday. “Any customer who has bought one of the products affected by the recall can return them to Pick n Pay for a full refund,” it said. Some of the recalled products include the LiquiFruit Clear Apple 250ml carton, LiquiFruit Clear Apple 300ml…

Siphokazi Vuso siphokazi.vuso@inl.co.za SOME Capetonians braved the cold and slept outside on Saturday night to mark World Homeless Day and raise awareness about the plight of those living on the street. According to The Cost of Homelessness study, there are roughly more that 14 000 people living on the City’s streets. The sleep-out initiative organised by the Rea Thusana Foundation was aimed at encouraging friendship with homeless people and to defend their rights to be treated with dignity on the street. The founder, Phinius Sebatsane, said they wanted to raise awareness about the issues faced by homeless people. “Homeless people are not just people living on the street, they are our neighbours. Punishing them for being homeless perpetuates homelessness. We did the sleep-out event to raise awareness about homelessness and…

Kailene Pillay kailene.pillay@inl.co.za IT’S NOTHING short of arrogance for Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane and Public Works MEC Babalo Madikizela to use Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s credibility as cover for their actions. That is the view of political analyst Ongama Mtimka following Mkhwebane’s scathing report against Mabuyane and Madikizela over funds meant for the memorial service of Struggle icon Winnie Madikizela Mandela. Her report found that Mabuyane personally benefited to the tune of R450 000 from the amount of R1,1 million which was “certainly” public money that went into the Nedbank account of Allan Morran Design Architectural Services to carry out renovations at his private house. “Whereas Mr Mabuyane denied the knowledge of arrangements between Mr Bam (a local businessman) and Mr Madikizela, evidence revealed that his wife, Siyasanga Mabuyane…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za USING someone’s HIV status to name-call, shame or degrade, is a setback for the work done over the last decades to destigmatize the disease. This is how health activists have reacted to the conviction of Khayelitsha Ward 92 councillor and candidate Xolisa Peter after being found guilty on charges of crimen injuria on Friday and sentenced to 125 hours community service. Peter had publicly shouted at another party member, Ntombi Dywili, that she had HIV, during a heated altercation as they came out of a meeting in August. The incident was caught on camera. In September, the ANC said Peter would be stepping aside and the IEC would take her off the party's list. She is expected to start her community service work at the Lingelethu West…