Indholdsfortegnelse for 2023-11-17 i Cape Argus

Ahead of the festive season, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has assured consumers that there was sufficient supply of eggs and poultry, as panic buying continues. In a statement released on Wednesday, the department said egg stock levels were replenishing steadily and that there was no need for panic buying of the product. The department said it had open import permits for eggs and poultry products from a few countries. Brazil, the US, Argentina and others have been exporting eggs to South Africa for some time, with the department processing import permit applications from a few more countries. The country battled two strains of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) – H5N1 and H7N6 – and resultant outbreaks across provinces. The HPAI affects poultry and wild birds,…

A fight over a chair ended up with a learner stabbed to death at a Samora Machel high school. The 19-year-old boy was stabbed in the neck on Wednesday morning at Zisukhanyo Senior Secondary School. A 17-year-old was arrested in connection with the murder. Samora Machel community police forum spokesperson Bongani Maqungwana said: “According to information that I received, the learners had a fight the previous day about a chair, and the deceased stabbed him in the cheek with a pair of scissors. The victim went home and he returned the following day with a knife, and stabbed the 19-year-old in the neck. “He managed to get into the school with a weapon because learners don’t get searched before entering school.” Maqungwana said the CPF had approached the schools at…

A 49-YEAR-OLD woman who allegedly orchestrated the deaths of her relatives, including her husband and three children, to cash out on insurance policies will make her first appearance in the Mmabatho Magistrate’s Court on Friday. The woman was arrested following an intelligence operation after family members raised suspicions. National SAPS spokesperson, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said for the past two months, Sergeant Keshi Mabunda and a team of detectives had been working on the case following a tip-off from relatives of the suspect. Mabunda was brought in to kick-start investigations due to his expertise in solving similar cases. Mathe explained that the body of one of the woman’s relatives was exhumed, and a forensic team was able to link the dots. “The murder that was initially ruled a ‘natural death’ happened…

THE Competition Commission is reportedly looking into whether criminal charges can be brought against banks accused of manipulating the rand’s value. On Wednesday, UK-based Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) admitted to being one of 28 banks responsible for manipulating the dollar-rand exchange rate between 2007 and 2013. Following lengthy litigation, an agreement was reached for the bank to pay over R42 million in administrative penalties. The commission said SCB was no longer involved in currency manipulation and had committed itself to co-operating with the work of the commission. The commission’s divisional manager for cartels, Makgale Mohlala, told the SABC: “Standard Chartered has undertaken to co-operate with the commission in the prosecution of the other respondent banks. “And most importantly, they have undertaken to provide the commission with evidence that is in…

ON THURSDAY last week, students from Westerford High School protested against Israel in support of the freedom of Palestine. What stood out to me was the diverse representation of students at the protest, coming from various ethnicities and religions, thereby making history in advocating for the rights of Palestinians. During the protest, all the students exclaimed “Allahu Akbar” (God is most great, used by Muslims in prayers) to express solidarity with the Palestinians in their quest for freedom. I believe the parents of these intellectually enlightened students must take pride in their children. Certainly, in South Africa the sensitivity surrounding the apartheid era runs deep, reflecting a painful history of institutionalised racial segregation and discrimination. Recognising this sensitivity is crucial for fostering understanding and promoting reconciliation. South Africans often engage…

A MULTIMILLION-rand project along the N7 highway is nearing completion but motorists have been warned to brace themselves for upcoming road closures between Plattekloof and Milnerton. Infrastructure MEC Tertuis Simmers says work on the Refinery Interchange Project, which is a R285 million project to improve the capacity and safety of traffic operations at the interchange, is progressing according to plan. He explains that while there have been minor delays mainly due to weather conditions, the project is set to be complete in the first quarter of next year. The project involves the construction of an interchange which is located in the road reserve at the juncture of the N7 highway and Plattekloof Road. It also includes the upgrade of the interchange ramps connecting to the N7. Simmers says the main…

The countdown to the 72nd Miss Universe pageant finale, set to take place tomorrow at the José Adolfo Pineda Arena in El Salvador, has begun. Miss Universe South Africa, Bryoni Govender, will compete for the coveted title against other beauty queens from around the world. Govender recently revealed her farewell gown and the national gown by acclaimed KwaZulu-Natal designer Casey Jeanne, which celebrates her Indian and South African heritage while also allowing her to take centre stage. She says her entire wardrobe is very well-thought-out; it comprises vibrant patterns and colours that represent the warm spirit and diversity of the South African people. Werner Wessels, creative director of the Miss South Africa organisation, says that the national costume is a highlight for Miss Universe supporters and enthusiasts and plays a…

CRIMINALS don’t only wear balaclavas and carry guns. Some of them wear suits and ties and commit crimes behind laptops and smartphones. Abusing their positions of influence at multinational financial institutions, bankers are able to commit theft and fraud on a macro scale, wreaking damage to whole economies in the process. And they have the financial resources and legal teams at their disposal to avoid prosecution and punishment. It may have taken eight years of tedious litigation, but a landmark settle- ment agreement this week exposed the kind of malfeasance the banks are capable of. UK-based Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) admitted guilt in relation to manipulating US dollar and South African rand trading and agreed to pay a R42.7 million fine after being prosecuted by the Competition Commission of South…

NAIROBI: Kenya’s parliament yesterday approved the proposed deployment of its police to Haiti to lead a UN-backed multinational mission aimed at restoring peace and security in the gang-plagued Caribbean nation. The UN Security Council gave the go-ahead in early October for the Kenya-led mission to help the overwhelmed Haitian police battle rampant gang violence. But Kenya’s involvement has been criticised at home, and the government is barred from deploying any police to Haiti due to a court challenge to its plans by opposition politician Ekuru Aukot. | AFP…

AN OTTERY mom and her friend are lucky to be alive after they were kidnapped and attacked in broad daylight by men posing as taxi drivers in Woodstock. The 38-year-old woman, who asked not to be named, said she was left with multiple injuries after the horrific ordeal on November 3. “It was just after 12pm and my friend and I boarded a taxi outside the Capitec Bank because my friend needed a confirmation of her bank account for work. We got on a taxi and the gaartjie was shouting Wynberg and we were going in the direction of Observatory and we got in. We didn’t think anything of just us two because it’s a busy road and it was in the middle of the day.” She said as they…

THE Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has recruited 4 698 staff to voting stations for this weekend’s registration drive. The IEC in the Western Cape will be opening all its 1 572 voting stations across the province tomorrow and on Sunday, from 8am until 5pm. Of the 1 572 voting stations, 29 are temporary structures and 687 are schools. The IEC said the other stations include community halls or libraries and church buildings. “We are deploying 3 144 Voter Management Devices (VMDs) used to register voters. The VMD is a portable tablet device with the latest app upgrades and batteries charged – a fully charged VMD can operate offline for approximately 72 hours. “The IEC conducted a national VMD Dry Run on October 28 as part of the preparations for the…

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has rejected EFF leader Julius Malema’s “unprincipled and amoral attacks” on teachers. This comes after Malema urged the EFF members to ensure there was a party agent at every voting station in the country to monitor any fishy movement during the 2024 general elections. “We must make sure that staff members of the IEC are not Sadtu members because Cosatu said it’s going to support the ANC, and Sadtu is an affiliate of Cosatu,” he said. In a statement, Cosatu said proposing to ban teachers from playing any role in assisting the IEC was a slippery slope. It added that Malema’s rantings may be legal in his political party but hold no weight in a constitutional democracy. “Will other workers be banned…

THE impact of poor planning by one sphere of the government after another can be significant. A typical example of this is the processing of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill. The processing of national Section 76 bills – those that affect provinces – requires meaningful and thorough public participation as part of the law-making process. However, bad timing and budget cuts affecting legislatures have a marked impact on the quality and validity of the process. This could and should lead to constitutional challenges eventually, as is intended by the DA in the case of the Bela Bill. The process for the bill could not have reached KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN’s) legislature at a worse time. Notwithstanding that matric examinations are ongoing, it is also the tail end of the year,…

The IFP condemns the recent revelations of irregular practices by Standard Chartered, in collusion with other banks, to manipulate the rand. The SA Competition Commission’s announcement of a settlement with the British bank wherein Standard Chartered admitted liability and agreed to pay a fine of almost R43 million raises serious concerns about the impact of such behaviour on the economy. The IFP is deeply troubled by the findings that traders at Standard Chartered and other implicated banks engaged in manipulative activities that violated competition rules, particularly in the critical rand-US dollar exchange rate, between 2007 and 2013. The actions, as highlighted by the Competition Commission, not only compromise the integrity of financial markets but also have far-reaching consequences for the economic well-being of our nation. The IFP emphasises the need…

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (Nasa) aircraft are currently circling the Western Cape to collect satellite and airborne data with field observations and imaging spectroscopy to better understand the biodiversity of the Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR) and nature’s contributions to people. This biodiversity research project, known as BioSCape, was launched in October by Nasa and the National Research Foundation (NRF) in collaboration with the University of Cape Town. The BioSCape domain covers two global biodiversity hot spots, with the richest temperate flora and the third-highest marine endemism in the world. BioSCape will help scientists understand where biodiversity is, what it is doing, and why it matters. This information will be used to address the information and decision-support needs of stakeholders in the region and internationally. BioScape will…

Housing is a critical social determinant of health. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines healthy housing as a shelter that supports physical, mental and social well-being. The WHO has developed guidelines outlining the attributes of healthy housing. These include structural soundness, as well as access to a community that enables social interactions. Healthy housing protects inhabitants from the effects of disasters, pollution, waste and extreme heat or cold. It provides a feeling of home, including a sense of belonging, security and privacy. Health risks in the home environment are important to think about because of the amount of time people spend there. In countries where unemployment levels are high or where most work is home-based, people spend more than 70% of their time indoors. Children especially spend a large amount…

Palestinian medics said yesterday they are increasingly afraid for the lives of hundreds of patients and medical staff at Gaza’s biggest hospital, cut off from all links to the outside world for more than a day after Israeli forces entered. Gaza’s health ministry said Israeli soldiers had removed dead bodies from the grounds of Al Shifa hospital and destroyed cars parked there but were not letting staff or patients leave. Ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra said there was no water, food or baby milk in Shifa, which was packed with 650 patients and about 7 000 people displaced by weeks of Israeli air strikes and artillery bombardments. “Medical teams, patients and displaced people are fighting death due to the lack of any basic life necessities. The occupation forces are now present…

KOLKATA: Australia are through to an eighth ICC World Cup final, while South Africa’s 31-year wait for a place at the big dance will continue for another four years. That’s the bare bones of a pulsating semi-final at Eden Gardens last night as the Proteas went down by three wickets. Everything in-between was high-octane drama that had close to 50 000 spectators on the edge of their seats. It was by no means a perfect exhibition of one-day cricket, but it’s often these classics that are strewn with error and exhilaration in equal measure. Pressure has a way of making even the most seasoned of players do strange things. But ultimately it was Australia who pitched up at the races and were ready to charge out of the stables from…

IN A SCATHING judgment made against Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, Western Cape High Court Judge Daniel Thulare has dismissed the City’s attempt to challenge a decision to secure a child’s inheritance. The minor child involved was orphaned after his mother was murdered by her husband. Her burnt body was dumped in a shallow grave on a river bank. With no maternal or paternal family to care for him, the court ordered that Hill-Lewis had to establish a trust for the benefit of the child, and assist him with obtaining ownership of the RDP house he lived in with his mother. The court had also made certain orders in respect of the curator, the premier of the Eastern Cape and the director-general for the National Department of Social Development. The…

The defence lawyer for alleged child killer Derick Kalmeyer has called on the Western Cape High Court to acquit his client, claiming the State’s case is “flimsy” and “half-baked”. This was revealed yesterday as the State closed its case as a large group of residents travelled from Vredenburg to express their outrage at the murders of slain siblings Faith and Conray Adams. According to the State’s case, the 54-year-old man is accused of attacking the two children by violently stabbing 3-year-old Faith to death and then attacking 18-month-old Conray, and after stabbing him multiple times, throwing him through a glass window. Kalmeyer now faces two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of resisting arrest and has since pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Addressing…

CRIMINAL charges have been laid against four illegal traditional initiation schools in Cape Town. This was revealed by the Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS), accompanied by members of the Provincial Initiation Co-ordination Committee. The charges laid against the initiation schools are in terms of the Customary Initiation Act of 2022. DCAS issued notices to the four schools that they had two calendar days to close but they did not respond despite receiving them. Cultural Affairs and Sport MEC Anroux Marais said her department's role was to ensure that there were no fatalities at initiation schools. “The role of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport, together with its partners, is to ensure that our young men return from this important rite of passage alive and healthy,…

Parliament has heard that South Africa was considering further steps to help end the attacks on Palestine by Israel. This as the UN Council was unable to stop the onslaught, Deputy Minister of International Relations and Co-operation KC Mashego-Dlamini said. Introducing the EFF’s motion in a mini-plenary session yesterday for the removal of Israel’s embassy from South Africa and suspension of all diplomatic relations with Israel, EFF leader Julius Malema said Israel’s violence against Palestine has been perpetuated for decades. “Our call is based on the brutal and inhumane violence that the apartheid state of Israel has unleashed on the people of Gaza over the past several weeks. “This violence has left over 11 000 Palestinians massacred in an unprecedented military bombardment of unarmed and helpless innocent civilians in the…

Most ordinary people are really naive and out of touch with the depths of depravity in the hearts of key policymakers in politics, economics and finance on this Earth. More so, concerning the military threats and so-called climate crises that can affect the Earth. And on the nuclear matter, the elementary fallacy is the belief that everyone will die during a nuclear war and that the Earth will end. Who says so and did they create this Earth? It is these attitudes that empower people to decide who can live with or without a vaccine because of human rights, and who must perish because of overpopulation. Then the classic assumption is that nobody can do anything, if the powers that be on Earth have decided to play a nuclear game.…

South Africa has always been tolerant of all the religions we have in the country but now, with wars raging in Israel and Ukraine, we have seen anti-Semitic rhetoric rearing its head. And there is talk about boycotting businesses and threats made against Jewish schools. The threat will not be tolerated in our democracy and the full might of the law will be used against the perpetrators. Also, jobs will be lost through their actions, so I advise all decent people in our country to stop trying to divide us, as SA will collapse and we will all be the poorer for their actions. The ANC and EFF should think twice before starting religious rhetoric and show more tolerance towards the people of our country. We cannot solve other countries’…

The City of Cape Town has urged the public not to swim at parts of Gordon’s Bay beach following a red tide. The City’s plea came after patches of red could be seen at parts of the beachfront on Wednesday. According to the City’s Mayco member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Eddie Andrews, the red tide was common at this time of the year. “Patches of red tide are common in False Bay at this time of the year,” Andrews said. A red tide is a common term used for a harmful bloom which is caused by a rapid growth of algae that sees the water change colour. Andrews said residents should avoid swimming in the water or consuming any of the sea life from the area. “No one should…

KYIV: Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron travelled to wartime Kyiv and met President Volodymyr Zelensky for talks on his first working trip abroad, the Ukrainian leader said yesterday. Cameron said he wanted to underscore London’s support for Ukraine. Zelensky said he was grateful for the gesture. “We will continue to give you…all the military support that you need not just this year and next year, but however long it takes,” he said. Ukraine is trying to build up a Black Sea shipping corridor to revive its seaborne exports, defying threats from Moscow. | Reuters…

The Proteas came close, but ultimately went down by three wickets to Australia in yesterday’s World Cup semi-final in Kolkata. Here are our Plays of the Day... Review of the Day In a night where nothing seemed to be going in South Africa’s favour, this is a review the Proteas desperately needed to go their way. Even the toss did not go in South Africa’s favour, despite winning it and batting first, which is what any other team would have done, seeing how dominant teams who batted first had been throughout the tournament. Because of the gloomy overhead conditions, coupled with the fact that the pitch had been under covers right through the night, there was swing on offer for the Australians, nullifying South Africa’s decision to bat first. Moreover,…