Indholdsfortegnelse for 2024-03-15 i Cape Argus

MINERAL Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has accused the DA of racism and said the party was obsessed about the ANC’s cadre deployment policy. He said the DA must end its obsession with cadre deployment as it was not serving any purpose. Mantashe said that when he was working on the mines, the director-general (DG) in the Department of Energy back then was a white man with matric as his highest qualification. The minister was participating in the debate in Parliament yesterday during the adoption of the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill, which will reform the electricity market, when the issue of cadre deployment was raised. The ANC and the DA have been attacking each other over cadre deployment, with the governing party saying the DA was practising cadre deployment…

THE battle against the invasive polyphagous shothole borer beetle across the metro is gearing up, as the City calls for formal and informal businesses to sign up for free pest training. At least 251 sightings of trees infested with the pest were reported in Newlands, Rondebosch, Mowbray, Claremont, Kenilworth, and Observatory along the Liesbeek River by February 29. In the Helderberg, over 4 893 infested trees were sighted since 2019 to date. The beetle, from Southeast Asia, is a tiny, invasive black beetle that is smaller than a sesame seed (2mm), and has caused destruction in and around the city. According to Greenpop, a Cape Town-based environmental organisation, the beetle was first found in KwaZulu-Natal in 2017, and has since spread to the Garden Route and other parts of the…

THE 10-week-long Indian Premier League is set to get under way in a week’s time, with the final scheduled for May 25-26, which is more or less five days before the start of the T20 World Cup in the United States and West Indies. When the IPL reaches the knock-out stages, a Proteas T20 team will be in action in a three-match series against the West Indies, meaning coach Rob Walter will most likely be without his big guns for those encounters. This promises to directly affect the team’s preparations for the showpiece event because ideally, like any coach, Walter would want to have his players in camp closer to the World Cup. However, those are not the cards Walter has been dealt, and he might have to readjust his…

Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho said there was “no better feeling” after his goal helped secure a 2-0 win over PSV Eindhoven and progress to the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday night. The Manchester United loanee opened the scoring in the third minute, his first goal in front of Dortmund’s 82 000-strong home crowd since May 2021. Marco Reus added a goal in stoppage time to seal the win, putting Dortmund through 3-1 on aggregate, making the last eight for the first time since 2021. “It was like a relief. I think like all players you want to have a good start to the game – and there’s no better feeling than that,” Sancho told TNT Sports. “I’m just grateful that I could get a goal for the team.” Sancho,…

At the start of the season, young Bulls forward Reinhardt Ludwig thought he may feature in just a few games for the senior side. Having turned 21 only last year, Ludwig would’ve hoped to crack a few United Rugby Championship matches, and then get himself ready for the upcoming Currie Cup. Instead, the former Junior Springbok has quickly become a perennial figure in the starting line-up through a combination of good form and injuries to the likes of Ruan Vermaak and Ruan Nortjé. But his impact has been so influential that coach Jake White found a place for him in the team even when the two Ruans returned. White made a big call to hand Ludwig the No 7 jersey for the massive clash against the Stormers on March 2,…

One of the five men charged with the murder of South African rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes intends to bring an application on the basis of Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 once the State had rested its case. Lindokuhle Thabani Mkhwanazi 30, made this revelation yesterday in the Durban Magistrate’s Court in his bail affidavit which was read out by his legal representative Advocate Simphiwe Mlotshwa. Mkhwanazi is charged along with Lindani Zenzele Ndimande, 35, Siyanda Eddie Myeza, 21, Mziwethemba Harvey Gwabeni ,36, and Lindokuhle Lindo Ndimande, 29. They face 12 counts including two murders, conspiracy to commit murder, unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition, five attempted murders, and money laundering. It is alleged that Gwabs Miningi, a company owned by accused Gwabeni, received an amount…

Outgoing Minister in the Presidency Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has admitted to receiving a free flight on a private jet owned by a South African businesswoman in order to attend the funeral of Namibian president Hage Geingob. Dlamini Zuma was among the dignitaries who attended the funeral of Geingob, 82, who died early last month while receiving treatment in a hospital in the capital, Windhoek. Responding to questions posed by MPs in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Dlamini Zuma said the lift was offered by businesswoman Daphne Mashile-Nkosi, who also attended the funeral. She said she saw nothing wrong with accepting it as it saved taxpayers’ money. “So, how can I say how much was incurred because lifts are free. Now you are asking the reason why. The reason why…

A QUEUE of thousands of people snaked all along the Athlone Stadium as job-seekers gathered from across the city to find employment – painting a grim picture of the unemployment crisis affecting the metro. The people were provided with transport from various pick-up points across the city for the Jobs Fair and service delivery initiative hosted by the Department of Employment and Labour, in collaboration with the City, at the Athlone Stadium. The two-day fair started yesterday and will continue today from 8am to 4pm. An initiative of the department’s public employment services branch, it aims to bring job-seekers closer to prospective employers or provide learning opportunities. Iviwe Komani, 24, from Khayelitsha, said she had been unemployed for a year: “I heard they’re registering for employment so I came since…

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rhulani Mokwena says drawing matches is a national catastrophe for the club, given their dominance over the past few years. Sundowns have been the team to beat in Mzansi for the past six seasons, thanks to a winning streak of six championships in succession. And having shown no signs of slowing down as they are closing in on a seventh title, Sundowns have been on everyone’s lips – expected to always win. Mokwena’s men have embraced that challenge, so much so that they are expected to compete for the other remaining trophies – the CAF Champions League and Nedbank Cup. The Brazilians are in the Champions League quarter-finals, where they’ll face Tanzanian giants Young Africans over the two-legged contest after the coming Fifa break. Before that, Sundowns…

American Emma Navarro shocked Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka to reach the Indian Wells ATP-WTA Masters quarter-finals on Wednesday night as Coco Gauff sailed through. Navarro, ranked 23rd in the world, pushed Sabalenka hard to notch her first career win over a top-five player 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. US Open champion Gauff, seeded third, celebrated her 20th birthday with a dominant 6-0, 6-2 victory over Belgian Elise Mertens. It wasn’t quite so easy for last year’s men’s runner-up Daniil Medvedev, but the fourth-seeded Russian managed the windy conditions to post a 6-4, 6-4 triumph over Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. Medvedev next faces seventh-seeded Holger Rune, who saved a match point and then roared through the second-set tiebreaker on the way to a 2-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 victory over 2022 champion Taylor Fritz.…

Rassie Erasmus’ first match of his second tenure as head coach will start exactly as it did in his first match in charge – with a June friendly against Wales at a neutral venue. In 2018, Erasmus took a makeshift Springbok team to Washington to play (badly) against Wales, and six years later, the Boks play Wales in London. Again it will be an experimental team, but there will be a big difference to 2018 – this time, a Springbok B side will be packed with exciting new players, because South African rugby in 2024 is on a different planet to where it was after the unfortunate Allister Coetzee era. To be fair to Coetzee, he was in a difficult position when he took over from Heyneke Meyer. Meyer had…

JUST a day after he cried in court, saying he was sorry for murdering a City official, convicted killer Ivan Magokane was sentenced to 45 years behind bars. Magokane shot and killed Mpharu Hloyi during a fight with his ex- girlfriend, Shirley Malema, at the water and waste plant in Athlone in March, 2022. City workers were left traumatised after the incident in which Magokane allegedly fired wildly at staff in his search for Malema. The Western Cape High Court this week found that Magokane showed no remorse. According to the indictment, the couple started dating in 2014 and got engaged a year later as lobola negotiations were under way. Malema later ended the relationship and moved from Pretoria to Cape Town because she had obtained a job. Acting Deputy…

Former president Thabo Mbeki is facing a wave of backlash over his comments that his successor Jacob Zuma “destroyed” South Africa’s democracy. Mbeki also slammed Zuma for his support for the Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party. This comes after Zuma announced in December that he would vote for MKP and not the governing party in the upcoming elections but maintained that he would remain an ANC member. Mbeki said it did not make sense that Zuma wanted to remain a member of the ANC while voting for another party to defeat the governing party. “You can’t say I remain a member of the ANC but I support a party that is going to campaign to defeat the ANC. That doesn’t make sense. One of those two things is wrong,” he said.…

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) came down hard on Shepherd Bushiri’s lawyers for his false accusation that the South African justice system was being used to target him. During his court appearance in Malawi, Bushiri disclosed that the country’s justice system was being weaponised against him. He claimed that the reason he flew to Malawi was that he could get an opportunity to clear his name and get a free and fair trial in his place of birth. “I believe our courts here are so independent and trustworthy, as the justice system in South Africa is highly weaponised against the church, foreigners and those who are doing well,” he added. NPA spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga rubbished his assertion as being dishonest and misleading the court of Malawi. Mhaga said the prosecutorial…

THERE was much joy at the Cape Mental Health Training Workshop Unlimited office in Athlone when hundreds of trainees took part in the organisation’s annual flagship event, the Trolley Race. The gathering took place at the premises on the corner of Klipfontein and Johnson Roads. Annually, the training workshop hosts the event during Intellectual Disability Awareness Month, as a way to raise support for the inclusion and socio-economic empowerment of persons with intellectual disabilities. Cape Mental Health deputy executive officer Santie Terreblanche said the workshop was a programme of Cape Mental Health with workshops in Athlone, Retreat, Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain. “It’s been around for many years and we provide skills development and job opportunities, job creation, job preparation opportunities and support for adults with intellectual disabilities in these specific…

Over the past 12 months, cup draws have not been kind to Stellenbosch FC, but their coach Steve Barker has shrugged off the host of away games with the title of Willie Nelson’s 1980 country and western hit, On The Road Again. Last season, Stellenbosch were crowned inaugural Carling Knockout Cup winners without playing a single home game in the competition. Tonight, Stellenbosch have an away game against the Amakhosi slayers Milford FC, a Motsepe Foundation Championship side who surprised friend and foe alike by defeating Kaizer Chiefs in the opening round of the Nedbank Cup a fortnight ago. Tonight’s game will be played at the Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu (7pm kick-off). Barker is undaunted by the challenges of playing a cup game away from home again. “So, we’re…

Cheslin Kolbe’s heroic charge-down of Frenchman Thomas Ramos’s attempted conversion during the Springboks’ World Cup quarter-final victory last year was honoured at the SA Rugby Awards last night as the fans’ moment of the year. In a decisive moment of the match and the overall cup campaign, Kolbe launched himself from the tryline to brilliantly deny Ramos and France an extra two points in the Boks’ eventual 29-28 victory in Paris. Meanwhile, in the most prestigious category of the night, Eben Etzebeth – to the the surprise of arguably no one – walked away with the 2023 SA Rugby men’s player of the year award, becoming only the second player to win the honour back-to-back after Pieter-Steph du Toit did so in 2018 and 2019. Etzebeth had a stellar 2023…

Tottenham Hotspur can leapfrog Aston Villa into a Champions League qualifying spot with a Premier League victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage tomorrow, while at the other end of the table Luton Town host Nottingham Forest in a relegation battle. Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs side, who have lost once in their last eight league games, are two points behind fourth-placed Villa in fifth on 53 points, and have a game in hand over the Midlands side after thumping them 4-0 away last weekend. Villa could have moved eight points clear, but instead, Tottenham are breathing down their necks and can move into fourth sport until Sunday at least after a rout that manager Unai Emery called “a very bad day in the office”. Mid-table Fulham, meanwhile, will look to bounce back…