Indholdsfortegnelse for CA-2021-04-23 i Cape Argus

Youn Yuh-jung says her Oscar nomination is “stressful” because she feels as though she’s “competing for (her) country”. The Minari star will become the first South Korean actress in history to win the best supporting actress at the Academy Awards if she takes home the trophy for her role in the drama at the ceremony on Sunday. Yuh-jung has said she’s nervous about the big day because it feels “like the Olympics”. She told People magazine: “It’s stressful. I feel like I’m competing for my country. It’s like the Olympics. I don’t believe in competition, especially comparing acting to one to another. So being nominated to me, means I already got the award.” The movie tells the story of a Korean-American family who move to an Arkansas farm in search…

MAYIBONGWE MAQHINA and TARRYN-LEIGH SOLOMONS CALLS have been made to Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma to extend the submission of public comments on the Covid-19 No Fault Compensation Fund. Dlamini Zuma published a notice in the government gazette on April 15, inviting the public to comment on the regulations governing the establishment of the fund and set April 19 as a deadline. The regulations said the fund was an essential part of the Covid-19 vaccination roll-out. “The purpose of the scheme is to provide expeditious and easy access to compensation for persons who suffer vaccine injury,” reads the notice. It also said Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, in consultation with Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, would issue directions specifying the amounts and structure of compensation that…

Kailene Pillay kailene.pillay@inl.co.za Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo jokingly described Transnet’s former Chief Financial Officer Anoj Singh as “Mr Cash” following his testimony at the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture yesterday. Justice Zondo said he found it “very peculiar” that Singh’s driver testifiedhe would allegedly fetch suitcases of cash from the Guptas and deposit it into safety deposit boxes, use only cash to pay for his travel agent and again use only cash to settle his hotel bills that sometimes amounted to over R60 000. “It’s like you're Mr Cash,” Justice Zondo told Singh. Singh had been fielding questions about his tenure at Transnet. Questioned about him using the same travel agent as Gupta-owned company Sahara Computers and their associate Salim Essa, Singh said it was a mere…

Nomalanga Tshuma nomalanga.tshuma@inl.co.za A MUCH-loved Milnerton Primary School teacher is retiring from the profession after 40 years of teaching and inspiring his students with his love of music. Alan Katz, fondly known as “Mr Katz” by his colleagues and pupils, received a grand send-off yesterday evening, ahead of his last teaching day at the school today. Speaking to the Cape Argus, the school’s Beth Haywood said they had organised a send-off fit for a man of Katz’s stature, “a thank-you he deserved after dedicating his life to one of the most valuable professions in the world”. Katz, who was a music teacher at the school, said he had been inspired by all his music teachers growing up, who had fostered and groomed his love for music. “All my music teachers…

The corona virus crisis is causing a fundamental shift in the global power balance. In an influential essay published by Spanish newspaper El Pais, South Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han argued that “Asian states like Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan or Singapore, that have an authoritarian mentality which comes from their cultural tradition”, have weathered the crisis far better than the “democratic” nations of the West. China will display the superiority of its system even more proudly. It remains to be seen how the worldwide mentality could be altered in the aftermath of this pandemic. The question also remains whether or not any change in mindset, especially in the West, will have a lasting effect on international politics. The feeling of Western supremacism and European or American exceptionalism is particularly…

Isaac Shai LAW played a decisive role in the dispossession and oppression of African people in South Africa. In post-apartheid South Africa, law was once again poised to play a central role as an instrument for transformation. The Constitution was to be the lodestar that guides the process of transformation. However, it appears that pedestrian attention is being given to the tension between transformation and “the deeply entrenched attitudes towards and thinking about what ”The Law is“, how it works and its function in the legal system and society”. Legal scholarship and practice is overwhelmed and, in turn, overwhelms society with one monolithic view of law as a neutral, objective and value free scientific endeavour. The Western Cape Judge President Hlophe’s saga sharply brings forth the tension and contradictions.…

A missile launched from Syria flew into southern Israel early yesterday, triggering air raid sirens near a nuclear facility, according to the Israeli military, raising fears of an escalation in ongoing tensions between Israel, Syria and Iran. The attack triggered Israel’s air defence system and explosions from the exchange were reportedly felt by several Israeli communities near the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center. The military said the missile was not intercepted but exploded in mid-air. Local authorities reported debris falling 30km from the facility, according to the Times of Israel. An Israeli military official, briefing reporters overnight, said the Syrian missile was likely an errant attempt to hit one of its aircraft striking targets in the Syrian Golan Heights. The nuclear facility – widely believed to be the seat…

Washington: US President Joe Biden yesterday doubled US ambitions on slashing greenhouse gas emissions, leading Japan and Canada in making commitments that bring the world closer to limiting the worst climate change. Biden told a virtual Earth Day summit that the world’s largest economy will cut emissions by 50 to 52% by 2030 compared with 2005 levels. John Kerry, Biden’s climate envoy, said more than half the world’s economy had committed to keeping the planet’s temperature within 1.5°C above pre-industrial times, a goal of the Paris Agreement. Japan raised cutting emissions by 46 % in 2030 compared with 2013. Canada pledged reductions of 40-45% below 2005 levels, compared with an earlier target of 30%. The UN hailed the pledges a turning point. | AFP…

Chrissy Teigen “connected” with the Duchess of Sussex when the former actress wrote to her after the model lost her unborn son Jack halfway through her pregnancy. The Lip Sync Battle suffered a miscarriage in September when she was 20 weeks pregnant. She says Meghan Markle wrote her a touching letter after her and husband John Legend’s loss. Teigen insisted that Markle – who is expecting a baby girl with husband Prince Harry – is a “really wonderful person” and she is amazed when she reads stories about her friend that suggest otherwise. Speaking on Watch What Happens Live, Teigen told host Andy Cohen: “She’s been so kind to me ever since we connected … she had written me about Baby Jack and loss, but yeah. “She is really wonderful…

Mthuthuzeli Ntseku mthuthuzeli.ntseku@inl.co.za THE 17-year-old boy accused of killing a 22-year-old gay man from Nyanga has appeared in the Athlone Magistrate’s Court. The case was postponed to April 29 for bail information. National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the accused had been charged with murder “for now” and has been accommodated in a place of safety in Bonnytoun. While the suspect was appearing in court, Nyanga residents and civil society organisations congregated for a gender-based violence awareness campaign in preparation for a bigger march. Ilitha Labantu spokesperson Siyabulela Monakali said the organisation participated in the campaign to try to raise awareness of the plight of vulnerable people, particularly victims and survivors of gender-based violence. “We visited the family and the spot where his body was found. Every person…

Siyabonga Mkhwanazi siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za The government could be headed for a showdown with the unions after Public Service and Administration Minister Senzo Mchunu indicated yesterday that the state could offer a 0% salary increase. This comes after the unions called for an increase of 4% plus the consumer price index in the salaries of public sector workers. Mchunu said the National Treasury had told them they were on a fiscal cliff. The public purse has been stretched to the limit with the various demands on the state. The negotiations between the two parties will resume today. The government has over the past few years been trying to cut the wage bill. But one of the measures to reduce the wage bill has not worked and this includes getting people to take…

Nomalanga Tshuma nomalanga.tshuma@inl.co.za OUTRAGED by a the recent shocking incident of bullying which led to a Limpopo learner committing suicide, learners from Portland High School in Mitchells Plain have launched a campaign against bullying at their school. According to teachers, proactive learners approached them with the idea to recommit and sign an anti- bullying pledge found in the Metro South Education District’s anti-bullying policy. Teacher Sharne Adams said: “After Lufuno Mavhunga’s bullying incident went viral, I think we were all concerned and outraged. However, our learners took it a step further and decided to take action. “Our school’s anti-bullying chairperson, Camorin du Plessis, came to ask if the student body could host an anti-bullying campaign in support of Lufuno and commit themselves to never bully. “Camorin, in collaboration with different…

It was interesting watching the Judicial Service Committee interviewing aspiring candidates to fill positions on our highest court, the Constitutional Court. Firstly, some of those sitting on that committee, especially the IFP member, have made their presence a mockery since this party is one of the little ones in Parliament shouting the loudest for the return of the death penalty. Secondly, as one of our country's most vociferous anti-death penalty activists, one is reminded of the unanimous landmark decision of this court's 11 judges to abolish this scourge once and for all to history's scrapheap where it belongs and should have been dumped, decades, if not centuries ago. It is with pride that those 11 names can be repeated, etched in our memories, to remind us that we can never…

Adiel Ismail | Mountview The response to the recent mountain fires that led to UCT’s Sport Centre, Smuts and Fuller Halls, and the Jagger Library being gutted raises a couple of questions. Why did the government, either the Western Cape or the national government. fail to come to the rescue of the 4 000 UCT students who were left “homeless” by the fire? Why was it left to the disaster response and non-governmental organisation, Gift of the Givers, to come to their aid? We, as law-abiding and working citizens, pay our taxes diligently and would expect the provincial or the national government to assist us, its citizens, in the case of any disaster. Undeniably, the mountain fire that started on Sunday, April 18, 2021, was a disaster…

The official date of this year’s local government elections has been set. Voters across the country are expected to cast their ballots at different voting stations on October 27. But it won’t be business as usual. These municipal elections come amid a global pandemic which has changed the manner in which we conduct events of this magnitude. In his announcement on Wednesday evening, President Cyril Ramaphosa made no mention of how the elections are expected to unfold in compliance with Covid-19 protocols.He did, however, urge first-time voters and those who are eligible to ensure they are registered. As we wait for the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, to officially proclaim the date, Ramaphosa’s announcement is likely to be the green light that political parties have…

NAIROBI: An armed group had taken control of a county in western Ethiopia, the state-appointed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said, citing reports that civilians had been killed and public servants kidnapped. The commission said it had received reports that Sedal Woreda, in the Kamashi Zone of the western Benishangul-Gumuz region, was “under near full control of an armed group”. The region is home to the strategically important Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a $4 billion project that Ethiopia says is key to its economic development but has caused fears in Egypt and Sudan over disruptions in water from the Nile. | Reuters…

HERMAN GIBBS Comment What exactly is the problem at Kaizer Chiefs at the moment? Is it coach Gavin Hunt, or is he being muzzled by the club? The glamour club suffered yet another disappointment on Wednesday night, this time going down 2-1 to Cape Time City at home. Chiefs fans are not a happy bunch, and the loss to City will only increase the pressure on Hunt. However, the coach is becoming increasingly vague about why the team is performing so poorly. When some of his comments are placed under the microscope, it raises suspicions of internal strife at the club. There is nothing strange about Hunt looking crestfallen after Chiefs were defeated by City. But it is alarming when he says he cannot divulge his thoughts on the team's…

MIHLALI BALEKA Comment MAMELODI Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi made a sombre admission following his team’s draw with AmaZulu in the DStv Premiership on Wednesday, saying their players showed signs of fatigue due to their heavy schedule. But that shouldn't by any means be taken as admission of weakness or vulnerability by their opponents who are also chasing the league title. After all, they’ll know that Sundowns are well capable of upping the tempo during championship time. The Brazilians have won the league title for three seasons in a row. They juggled domestic and continental football where they had reached the knockout stage under the astute guidance of former coach Pitso Mosimane. Of course, fellow title hopefuls Golden Arrows and AmaZulu who are second and third on the log standings and…

Sisonke Mlamla sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za THE Western Cape Education Department (WCED) said it was ready to allow all learners to return to class full-time as they were less likely to be hospitalised or die from Covid-19 complications than adults. The return of all learners would be beneficial, because they would get back into a regular routine, WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said. She said learners on the rotation system often required certain concepts and lessons to be “refreshed”, instead of picking up daily on what they had learnt the day before. Hammond added that while lesson packs had been arranged for at-home learning, the time spent on education-related activities at home could not be monitored. Her comment followed a heated debate as the Department of Basic Education (DBE) said it was pondering whether…

Shakirah Thebus shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za A FORMER Camps Bay police station commander made a brief appearance in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court, yesterday on charges of indecent assault and possession of child pornography. The arrest of Zbiegniew Andrzej Weclaw, a 65-year-old Vredehoek resident, comes after his son Daniel Clifford Weclaw, discovered multiple boxes of DVDs containing child pornography, some filmed by Weclaw himself. The videos featured mostly young boys, one of whom was of Daniel as a young boy. Daniel is now 39 years old. Weclaw was a station commander at the Camps Bay station for 21 years and a police member for 30 years. He was arrested at his residence on November 24, last year, and appeared in court on the same day. He was released on R 2 000…

Mayibongwe Maqhina mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za THE Western Cape delegation to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) has come under firem for not backing the amendment to the bill that seeks to provide tenure security to women. This happened when the NCOP yesterday considered the Upgrading of Land Tenure Rights Amendment (Ultra) Bill and the Correctional Services Amendment Bill. The Upgrading of Land Tenure Rights Act was found to be unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court because it excluded women from the property system. This was viewed by the court to be gender discrimination and the national legislature was given until May 29 to amend the legislation. The same act was found not to cover those areas falling under the TBVC states, such as the former Transkei, Venda, Bophuthatswana and Ciskei. In December 2020,…

Nomalanga Tshuma nomalanga.tshuma@inl.co.za THROUGH its innovative global ExoLab programme, more than 100 learners from Cape Town schools participated in a special Earth Day celebration at the Saldanha Airfield in Saldanha Bay. The organisers of the event treated the learners to the launch of two InterMet super pressure high-altitude balloon payloads. Two InterMet high-pressure balloons were launched, each carrying a Styrofoam payload that houses data collection and sensing devices. The balloon flight took about two hours and proceeded to ascend to an altitude of 30 000 metres above sea level. At its peak, the balloon burst, and the payload box fell back to the ground where learners were tracking the flight in real-time. Learners and their mentors recovered the payload upon its return to Earth and will use the data…

Shakirah Thebus shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za THE Western Cape is witnessing 135 new Covid-19 cases, 20 hospital admissions and two deaths daily, on average. This is according to Health Department head, Dr Keith Cloete. During Premier Alan Winde’s weekly digicon yesterday, Cloete provided an update on the province’s health systems, vaccine roll-out for phase 2, and preparations for the third wave. Hospital admissions and Covid-19-related deaths have decreased slightly with an average test positivity rate at 4.13% as at April 16. Around 53 507 health-care workers have been vaccinated. The province aims to begin phase 2 on May 17, vaccinating individuals aged 60 and older. There are around 720 000 residents who fall in this category and about 111 369 people have registered on the national EVDS registration system to be vaccinated.…

SUPPLIED BELHAR cleaner-turned-teacher Natasha Dietrich says you’re never too old to learn. The 47-year-old mother of two, who will receive her Bachelor of Education from UWC on May 5, is proof that learning is a lifelong journey and that it’s never too late to start. After years of working as a cleaner, with only a matric qualification, Dietrich packed away her overalls and has instead been teaching Grade 5 and 6 maths and social science at the Dr Van der Ross Primary School in Belhar since January. It was her work as a cleaner at UWC that first sparked Dietrich’s desire to study further, she said. Dietrich started at UWC as a casual worker with Bidvest Prestige in 2011, and was employed permanently in 2014. “As I worked in…

Two wildfires, one on the mountain and another on the flats. The one finally extinguished, the other still raging, each with severe ruin in its wake. The blazes on Table Mountain were visible for kilometres. While teams of firefighters fought the fire, among others, major parts of a historic campus library soon lay in ruin. Soon, horror turned to reflection, with commentators considering not only this material loss, but also its symbolic meaning. With some of the lost collection reportedly dating from the 1500s and a major collection relating to Africa, most decry the destruction as a loss of history, as much as a loss knowledge. On some, the reality is not lost that the devastation later must birth new collections that reflect the emerging histories of the continent. Public…

The renewed surge in Covid-19 infections is threatening to further divide the world economy between the rich and poor, potentially damaging overall global growth if the fresh outbreaks spread or if key sources of demand falter. More people were diagnosed with Covid-19 last week than any other since the pandemic began. The World Health Organization this week warned that new infections are increasing everywhere except Europe, led by rocketing numbers in India with cases also rising in Argentina, Turkey and Brazil. That’s casting a shadow over a previously vigorous global economic rebound given that failure to control the virus or get vaccines distributed evenly risks driving new mutations, first in emerging markets and then on to developed nations that had been beating the pandemic back. Even if that doesn’t happen,…

QUETTA: A car bomb blast late on Wednesday ripped through a luxury hotel’s parking area in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, killing four people and wounding 11, officials said. China’s ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong was staying at the hotel, but was not there when the bomb exploded, said Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad. It was not clear whether the envoy or members of his delegation were a target of the attack, but Chinese nationals and their interests in the region have been attacked before by Taliban militants and nationalist insurgents. The Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibilityg. | Reuters…

Having been major players in the doomed plan to wreck the Champions League this week, Chelsea and Liverpool face a crucial weekend trying to ensure they qualify for next season's edition via a top-four finish. Chelsea edged back into the top four with a draw against Brighton on Tuesday, but only by virtue of goal difference over West Ham United, who they face tomorrow. West Ham were one of the most vocal clubs in criticising Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal's decision to jump on board the European Super League ship. Chelsea and the other five English renegades all made dramatic U-turns on Tuesday, effectively killing off the new 20-club league in which 15 founder members would have been guaranteed permanent residence. West Ham will have…