Indholdsfortegnelse for 2024-11-22 i Cape Argus

The Cape Summer Festival of Racing is set to kick off the holiday season in style at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth Racecourse with the highly anticipated CommunityFest. The vibrant, family-friendly event will feature the prestigious Gr2 Cape Punters Cup. It also marks the first of eight thrilling race days, running from this month until March. The festival promises to bring together the excitement of horse racing with a packed schedule of entertainment for everyone, celebrating the heart of Cape Town’s community spirit. With free entry via Quicket, CommunityFest invites families, friends and racing fans to enjoy a fun-filled day. Attendees can expect live music performances by talented artists and DJs starting at noon. The party continues until 9.30pm after the last race. There will also be a dedicated Kids’ Zone which offers…

THE State has officially closed its case in the mammoth underworld trial against Nafiz Modack and his co-accused, after a staggering 107 days. In the Western Cape High Court yesterday, testimony of the last State witness - Lieutenant-Colonel Pieter Joubert of the National Task Team, established to investigate the murder of slain Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) detective Charl Kinnear, was finalised. Modack, along with Zane Kilian, Ziyaad Poole, Moegamat Toufeek “Bubbles” Brown, Riyaat Gesant, Faghmeed Kelly, Mario Pietersen, Jacques Cronje, Petrus Visser, Janick Adonis, Amaal Jantjies, Ashley Tabisher, Yaseen Modack, Adiel Mukadam and Ricardo Morgan went on trial on January 29 this year. The group was slapped with 124 charges centred on various incidents including the murder of Kinnear, the murder of Nicholaas Heerschap, and the botched hits on top criminal…

THE City of Cape Town has announced its prepaid electricity meter updates are done and its customers will not be impacted by the looming end of November deadline. All prepaid meters are required by the Standard Transfer Specification Association to be updated by November 24. According to Eskom, after the November deadline, all meters will no longer accept electricity tokens unless they are updated to Key Revision Number (KRN) 2. The City of Cape Town said its prepaid electricity meter updates have been completed way ahead of the National Prepaid Meter Software Update deadline and City-supplied customers are not impacted by the end November deadline. It has urged Eskom customers to approach the power utility. The City also called on Eskom to ramp-up its customer support and customer hubs across…

RESIDENTS from Capricorn Heights in Vrygrond are picking-up the pieces of what’s left after a fire gutted at least 100 shacks, leaving around 300 people destitute and two minors injured. Fire and Rescue Services spokesperson, Jermaine Carelse, said an emergency call was received at 10.10am of informal structures alight on Wednesday. Crews from several fire stations arrived on scene. Carelse said a firefighter was also injured and transported to a medical facility for treatment. Sonica Lategan from the Disaster Risk Management Centre, said assessments are ongoing. “Indications are that approximately 100 structures were destroyed, and some 300 persons affected. “An official count will be given once the registration process is completed,” Lategan said. “Two minors sustained burn wounds and were taken to hospital. “City services have been activated to attend…

Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis announced a robust squad of 23 players yesterday for their significant two-match tour of Jamaica. The trip will feature two crucial matches against the Reggae Girlz in Montego Bay on November 29 and December 2. These matches are part of the team’s preparation for the 2025 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) in Morocco, where they aim to defend their title. However, the squad will be without the leadership of captain Thembi Kgatlana and forward Jermaine Seoposenwe, who are both unavailable due to club commitments. Their absence opens the door for fresh talents, especially those who had a strong showing in the recent Cosafa Championship, to showcase their abilities on the international stage. Among the promising inclusions are Bongeka Gamede, who recently transferred to a…

As the Springbok Sevens gear up to kick off the World Rugby SVNS Series in Dubai next week, head coach Philip Snyman is determined to follow in the illustrious footsteps of their 15-a-side counterparts, the Springboks. With an eye on building depth within the squad while continuing their impressive winning streak, Snyman has named a dynamic combination of seasoned players and eager youngsters to defend their title in the UAE. The Blitzboks, who have claimed the Dubai title for the last five seasons, boast an impressive overall record of 11 tournament victories in the United Arab Emirates. They are poised to secure a sixth straight title in the upcoming tournament, taking place in just a couple of weeks. To help achieve this, Snyman has retained a solid core of 10…

SOUTH Africa are into the second and final day of their Test camp at the Centre of Excellence in Pretoria today as they prepare to right their wrongs against the visiting Sri Lanka next week. Sri Lanka remain the only Asian or sub-continent Test team who have won a series on South African soil, having whitewashed the Faf du Plessis-led Proteas 2-0 five years ago. The visitors have brought back seven of the players that were involved in that famous series triumph, and when they step over the ropes in the first Test at Kingsmead in Durban next Wednesday, they will be reminded of the special achievement they pulled off against a strong South African squad. With the second Test scheduled for St George’s Park in Gqeberha from December 5,…

Sean “Diddy” Combs is being accused of contacting witnesses from prison. The embattled rapper was arrested in September on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty and has attempted to be released on bail several times, pending trial, even proposing a $50 million (R902m) bail package. Three federal judges have denied the music star bail. As the 55-year-old’s legal woes intensifies, E! News has reported that federal prosecutors say the rapper has made “relentless efforts to contact potential witnesses”. In a motion filed a week ago, the US authorities said they believed that Diddy was contacting witnesses. The prosecutors said the musician’s alleged actions violated the Bureau of Prisons’s regulations and “corruptly influenced witness testimony”. They said he used the third-party…

THE NCC Environmental Services is rallying community support to sustain baboon ranger services in the Cape Peninsula, aiming to raise R250 000 to prevent unemployment and ensure vital conservation efforts continue. The crowdfunding campaign comes after the Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team announced it will be providing baboon ranger services only throughout December. NCC Environmental Services has been employed by the City to manage the Urban Baboon Programme for December. The project employs over 80 people and operates 365 days a year. They cover 10 baboon troops, ranging from Constantia Nek through to the Cape Point entrance, benefiting 30 suburban areas and around 500 baboons. From December 1-31, NCC will deploy rangers to monitor baboon troops across affected regions within the Cape Peninsula. The one-month contract covers 75%…

South African football legends Jomo Sono and Lucas Radebe are pleased with the recent Bafana Bafana achievements under coach Hugo Broos. Bafana backed up their bronze medal win at the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year with a resounding showing in the qualifiers to book their ticket to Morocco 2025 unbeaten. The South Africans produced a first-place finish in Group K with 14 points from six matches, one more than Uganda (13), who finished second, following their 3-0 victory over South Sudan at the Cape Town Stadium on Tuesday night. Iqraam Rayners opened the scoring in the seventh minute, before Patrick Maswanganyi added a second in the first half. Star midfielder Teboho Mokoena slotted a penalty early in the second half. Broos and his troops lost 4-2 on penalties…

Lewis Hamilton said he had shrugged off deep disappointment after the Sao Paulo Grand Prix and pledged to give his all for Mercedes in his final three races before joining Ferrari. The seven-time world champion admitted he had felt like “not coming back” in a radio reaction at the end of the race in Brazil, where he finished 10th, but had recovered and now wanted to give his best for “a team I love”. Speaking to reporters ahead of this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, the first of a triple-header on successive weekends, he was asked about a team radio exchange in which he suggested he was ready to walk away. In the radio transmission, he said “that was a disaster of a weekend guys, the worst the car has…

Manchester United begin what they hope will be a journey back towards their former glory as new head coach Ruben Amorim takes charge for the first time away at Ipswich Town on Sunday. As the Premier League returns after the international stoppage, United’s trip to Portman Road offers the most intriguing storyline of a packed weekend of action. While United’s fans will travel to Suffolk with fresh hope after years of decline, Manchester City’s are perhaps still in a state of mild shock at a four-match losing streak. Champions City, boosted by the news that manager Pep Guardiola has signed a contract extension, have fallen five points behind leaders Liverpool, but will aim to return to business as usual at home to Tottenham Hotspur tomorrow. Liverpool, whose own new era…

The Proteas Women have never beaten England in a bilateral white-ball series, both home and away. That’s 26 series across both ODI and T20I formats. Abundant reasons, then, for England to be overwhelming favourites ahead of their full multi-format tour to the Republic, which gets under way in East London with the first T20I on Sunday. But hold on just a minute: it is the Proteas who have reached successive T20 World Cup finals, with the first appearance being at the expense of England in a memorable semi-final victory at Newlands last year. And while the English managed some sort of revenge by winning the group game between these two now fierce rivals in Sharjah last month, it was the South Africans who ultimately went on to the grand T20…

TYLA is set to appear on American singer Sabrina Carpenter’s upcoming star-studded Christmas special, which will premiere on Netflix on December 6. A Nonsense Christmas promises to enchant viewers with music, comedy and lively cameos. The streamer recently said it would showcase the pop icon’s top hits from her holiday EP, Fruitcake, as well as other chart-topping holiday covers. The special will also feature duets with musicians such as Kali Uchis, Chappell Roan and Shania Twain. With Tyla set to make a cameo, it’s safe to say that the feature, along with her latest single, Tears, in collaboration with Coke Studio and her upcoming December tour in South Africa, marks the perfect ending to the incredible year she has been having. The 22-year-old Grammy Award- winning superstar has been making…

THE DA has launched an “Anti-Extortion Plan for South Africa”, listing a number of ways in which the party believes would make inroads in combating extortion and prevent threats and intimidation, and sometimes fatal consequences facing sectors and communities. The five-point plan was outlined and led by MP and chairperson of the portfolio committee on police Ian Cameron, DA MP and DA national spokesperson Karabo Khakhau, DA MP Lisa-Maré Schickerling, and DA MP Dianne Kohler-Barnard, during a media briefing at Parliament, yesterday. Khakhau said: “Extortion is a criminal tax system on honest businesses and we cannot sit back and do nothing about that. It doesn’t just start with the CBD night-time economy, but it goes all the way to an illicit firearm economy, a construction mafia economy, an illicit drug…

AMID the rising spate of food poisoning incidents in the country, business groupings North Region Business Association (NOBRA) and the INK Investment, representing local spaza shop owners in Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu embarked on a peaceful march yesterday. Their march to the KwaMashu Sports Centre was part of the call for the closure of spaza shops owned by illegal immigrants, who allegedly sold goods that were reported to be contaminated. Muzi Shange, one of the event’s organisers representing NORBA, expressed the urgency of their cause. Shange said: “We decided to embark on this march because we want to reclaim the township economy, including the spaza shops. If the…

A GROUP of teen girls from Athlone have completed a personal development and woman empowerment course hosted by Athlone SAPS, as part of their community outreach programmes. After six weeks of hard work, the teens from Ned Doman High School were treated to a lunch and ceremony along with their mothers in Athlone. Sergeant Zita Norman said the teens, aged between 15 and 18, attended classes each week as part of the Shine Project. “Shine is a personal development and women empowerment course designed to teach women and young girls about their worth, strength and purpose ... “We ran the course for six weeks with the graduation held in the sixth week. “The need for the project to reach out to teen girls in the precinct stems from the junior…

Will the whiny socialist kids please stop throwing tantrums about a global system that’s functioning just fine, thank you? That’s the gist of Kevin Bloom’s article in the Daily Maverick, where he dismisses the critiques of the upcoming World Movement for Democracy conference as nothing more than a fit of “incandescent rage”. His piece, “Global Democracy Conference in SA Dodges Trump Bullet Fired by an Irate Zwelinzima Vavi”, seems to imply that criticism of the US-state-sponsored event – which is, let’s remember, designed to further the national interests of the US and its corporate backers – should be swept aside. After all, who needs pesky questions about the role of NGOs in a system built on corporate exploitation and genocide? Bloom’s evidence for his argument is embarrassingly weak and doesn’t…

Rassie Erasmus, the mastermind behind South African rugby’s resurgence, has always had an eye on the future, particularly post-2023 Rugby World Cup. His ambitious plan? To cultivate squad depth, while eyeing the defence of their title at the 2027 World Cup in Australia. What’s remarkable about this season is not just the strategy behind the scenes, but the tangible success that has accompanied it. This year, the Springboks have navigated through 12 Tests, with a remarkable tally of 10 victories despite fielding an ever-changing line-up. The only blemishes on their record were narrow defeats against Ireland and Argentina, both lost by a single point. Yet, in each of the other matches, even when not firing on all cylinders, the Boks have demonstrated an uncanny ability to pull through for the…

Terence Balelo and Edson Machavane put on one of the most intense EFC Championship bouts in the organisation’s history. EFC 119’s main event last week was nothing short of a high-stakes chess match inside the hallowed hexagon. Balelo put his interim flyweight belt on the line against the Mozambique-born Machavane, who eventually walked away the victor. While it was a special day for Machavane’s family, the night was surrounded by controversy and kickback from the MMA community, who felt that Balelo had been on the wrong side of a split decision (48-47 Machavane, 48-47 Balelo, 49-46 Machavane). More than that, many fighters, fans, pundits, and the like, including EFC matchmaker Graeme Cartmell, were surprised by judge Charl van Tonder’s 49-46 scorecard. “As the winner was read, I was surprised by…

Born into a football family, it would have been easy to assume that Lebohang Maboe would have the smoothest journey in the sport – but that hasn’t been the case. As a child, Maboe spent hours on the training pitch, watching his father and uncle – an experience that made him curious about what made football so special. He’d soon understand, though, as his father Sidwell turned professional, playing for teams such as Orlando Pirates, Bloemfontein Celtic and SuperSport United in the 1990s. And with Sidwell’s support, and not influence, the bug caught Maboe as he made his professional breakthrough at then-NFD side Mbombela United. After an impressive season at United, Maboe joined then top-flight side Maritzburg United (who are now known as Durban City), helping the side reach the…

SLOW left-arm orthodox Tsepo Ndwandwa spun the Titans to a 118-run victory over the Knights in their Four-Day Series clash in Centurion yesterday. Playing in only his third first-class match for the Titans, Ndwandwa delivered an impressive five-wicket haul in the first innings, his seventh of his career and his second successive five-for, having returned 5/124 against the Dolphins at Kingsmead last week. The 29-year-old returned sparkling figures of 5/33 in 15 overs in the first innings in Centurion and followed it up with 3/36 in 14 overs in the second innings to help register a second consecutive victory for the Titans inside three days. Having crossed the Jukskei River from the Lions at the Wanderers to SuperSport Park this season in search of game-time, Ndwandwa has gotten precisely what…