Indholdsfortegnelse for 2021-06-21 i Cape Argus

Equal Education backs case-by-case approach Baldwin Ndaba and SHAKIRAH THEBUS EQUAL Education (EE) and the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC), as well as teachers’ unions, have praised the Department of Basic Education (DBE) for taking a careful, case-by-case approach to managing Covid-19 infections in schools. EE spokesperson Jay-Dee Cyster said they believed the decision was in line with its risk-adjusted strategy and significantly helped to manage fears about school safety, while protecting learners from the harmful impact of not being at school every day. “We also celebrate Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga’s announcement that our country’s 582 000 school staff will have the opportunity to be vaccinated by July 8. “We have, since last year, appealed to the DBE to implement the risk-adjusted strategy so that teaching and learning…

Nomalanga Tshuma nomalanga.tshuma@inl.co.za THE National Sea Rescue Institute is appealing to ardent bathers, boaters and all coastal water users to not only be more cautious when visiting the beaches, but to also make sure they have at hand emergency contact information of service providers who can assist in times of need. This is after a team from the NSRI responded to a tragic incident over the weekend following reports of a surfer that was being assisted by fellow surfers after he collapsed on returning from surfing at Alkantstrand Beach in Richard’s Bay. The NSRI has appealed to all coastal water users to save safety and emergency numbers on their phones before heading out to sea. NSRI Richards Bay deputy station commander Jacques Kruger said: “We are appealing to coastal…

Baldwin Ndaba baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za THE Gauteng Health Department has promised to investigate the disappearance of mental health patient Shane Jordaan, 30, who was reported to have gone missing earlier this month. The department was reacting to the Gauteng DA’s criticism of the conditions at Kairos Centre, in Cullinan outside Pretoria, from where he disappeared. DA social development spokesperson Bronwynn Engelbrecht said her party was appalled to learn about patients with special needs allegedly being neglected, their rooms left in a filthy state, there was no monitoring of them taking their medication and there was leaking of raw sewage. “These terrible living conditions at Kairos were revealed after Shane Jordaan went missing. His mother said the centre never informed her; she only learnt of it from police five days later.” Engelbrecht…

MICHAEL BAGRAIM | Highlands Estate YOUR edition Thursday, June 17, “Today’s youth face enormous challenges”, refers: The youth face a completely different challenge which seems almost insoluble. With youth unemployment reaching 60% and with many having no hope for the future, we are faced with an enormous problem to tackle. It appears the government is not doing much at all to deal with this problem as most of the ministerial speeches reflect a future as “business as usual”. Faced with a challenge such as this 45 years ago, our youth would have marched up against this injustice but today our youth appear to be almost unorganised. Our trade unions have done very little about this volcano which is about to erupt.…

Jean Michel Bouvier | Bryanston WE AGAIN saw the politicians celebrating Youth Day this year with chest-thumping, fanfare, wearing their rose-tinted glasses and once more promising and pledging anything and everything, from opportunities to youth development programmes, skills development, etc, etc, because, like all politicians, they feed off public approval. It is important, though, that we look at the idiotic, restrictive, insane, dim-witted and brainless policy choices the ANC have made, which have resulted in this catastrophic present situation which is facing the vast majority of young South Africans. It is shocking to see that the number of unemployed youth now stands at 64%, and all this because and through an incompetent, inept, amateurish and out-of-its-depth and unfit-to-govern administration. So instead of preventing the “fires “from starting in…

Amanda Maliba amanda.maliba@inl.co.ca THEO Baloyi, the founder of the much celebrated Bathu brand, made two grand announcements this past week. He launched the first Walk Your Journey Series (#BathuWYJSeries) mentorship programme and a CSI school care project Bathu for Batho, that centres around giving 100 000 school shoes to underprivileged children by February next year so that they can walk their educational journey in comfort. At the mentorship programme launch, 100 chosen innovators and entrepreneurs gathered at the Market Theatre for the beginning of their mentorship programme with Baloyi – where, beyond mingling with other upcoming business people, they got to feed into Baloyi’s mind on business, with the hopes of getting ideas on how to upscale their businesses. Baloyi, whose story started in a small back room in Alexandra…

The Darkest Evening Ann Cleeves Pan MacMillan Review: Sheila Chisholm ENVY, jealousy, anger, pride and greed are generally considered the worst of human traits. Sloth and gluttony come close, but tend mostly to affect the individual. But in another person, the former “sins” can boil over uncontrollably, causing him/her to inflict serious physical damage upon some poor soul. Mind you, when that happens and detectives move in to unravel the why behind an unnatural death, chances are that deep, dark, interlinking secrets will surface. Finding those, then tying them up to make a hard and fast case for a jury to convict a suspect takes diligence, intelligence, gut instinct and understanding human foibles. So murderers beware: when “bag lady” DCI Vera Stanhope, assisted by Joe Ashworth and DC Holly Jackman,…

Eurie Dahn USING punctuation and capitalisation as a form of protest doesn’t exactly scream radicalism. But in debates over racial justice, punctuation can carry a lot of weight. During the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, mainstream news organisations grappled with whether to capitalise the first letter of “black” when referring to black people. Of course, writing “black” was already common practice in activist circles. Eventually The Associated Press, The New York Times, USA Today and many other outlets declared that they, too, would capitalise that first letter. It turns out the push to capitalise “black” is only the most recent way black writers and activists have pushed back against entrenched power through ostensibly bland elements of writing. As I discuss in my recent book, Jim Crow Networks: African…

China yesterday announced it had administered its one-billionth shot in the world’s biggest coronavirus inoculation drive as Brazil’s death toll from the pandemic passed 500 000. The global Covid-19 death toll is now more than 3.8 million. Many nations are still battling outbreaks, but vaccine drives in some countries are allowing activities, unthinkable a few months ago. China’s vaccine milestone comes after the number of shots administered globally passed 2.5 billion on Friday. But the Asian giant’s vaccination efforts initially got off to a slow start after a successful fight against the virus left little sense of urgency to get jabbed. A lack of transparency and previous vaccine scandals have also led to resistance among many residents. Authorities have set an target of fully vaccinating 40 % of China’s…

KABUL: The Taliban said yesterday they were committed to peace talks, adding they wanted a “genuine Islamic system” in Afghanistan that would make provisions for women’s rights in line with cultural traditions and religious rules. The statement came amid slow progress in the talks between the hardline Islamic group and Afghan government representatives in Qatar and as violence rises dramatically around the country. This comes ahead of the withdrawal of foreign forces by September 11. Officials have raised concerns over the stalling negotiations. They have said the Taliban has not yet submitted a written peace proposal that could be used as a starting point for substantive talks.…

MIHLALI BALEKA Comment Bruce Bvuma’s perseverance is finally paying off. That’s why he’s slowly becoming a cult hero among the Kaizer Chiefs faithful, given that he spent the better part of his professional career behind the scenes or being subjected to scrutiny after receiving national team call-ups. After making his senior debut against Cape Town City in 2017, what followed Bvuma at the end of the season was not an analysis of his first few months as a professional but reports of how he was “subjected to exploitation at the club” after receiving a paltry R5 000 wage. That leaked report must have knocked his confidence, given the public knowledge of the handsome wages his teammates were being paid. Even though the matter was resolved by the club, Bvuma was…

Finland coach Markku Kanerva called today’s final Group B game against Belgium the “most important in our history” as they seek a place in the last 16 at Euro 2020. The Finns are third in the group after winning their opening game 1-0 against Denmark, a victory overshadowed by Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest, before losing by the same scoreline to Russia. A win over leaders Belgium would secure the Eagle-owls a spot in the knockout phase on their debut at a major tournament, as well as top spot if Russia fail to beat Denmark. “It’s the most important match in our history. A huge dream can be fulfilled, which is qualification. It’s in our hands,” Kanerva said in yesterday’s press conference. “My colleagues will keep me informed of the score…

Shakirah Thebus shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za The Truth Collective South Africa (TCSA) embarked on its relief mission to Gaza yesterday. Emotions ran high as volunteers and supporters gathered at the TCSA’s offices in Rylands to bid farewell and wish the convoy well for the journey. The non-governmental organisation, which focuses on social and philanthropic initiatives locally and internationally, received confirmation of the trip from the Embassy of Palestine in South Africa on May 20, and started its urgent public appeal for funding. Through the facilitation of the embassy, the Gaza Health Ministry supplied the group with a 23-page list of medical supplies needed, after a week-long bombardment by Israeli defence forces in May. One of the TCSA’s directors, Razaan Jacobs, said about R1 035 million and counting had been raised for medical supplies…

Mthuthuzeli Ntseku mthuthuzeli.ntseku@inl.co.za CIVIL society organisations have expressed outrage over the alleged non-functioning robotic machines that were supposed to help in processing DNA samples related to gender-based violence (GBV) cases that have allegedly been out of order since 2019. The DA’s provincial spokesperson on social development, Gillion Bosman, said this had been brought to their attention during a recent oversight visit to the police Forensic Science Laboratory in Plattekloof. Bosman said the machines were used to process crime samples faster than the manual process. “However, the contract to maintain these machines came to an end in May 2019. Since then, there has been no urgency from national policing structures to ensure that a new tender process is initiated to continue with maintenance. “Furthermore, the national structure has also neglected…

Tarryn-Leigh Solomons and Baldwin Ndaba THE Special Investigating Unit (SIU) says its investigators are hard at work to meet the deadline to hand President Cyril Ramaphosa a report on its investigations into the Health Department’s decision to award a R150 million tender to Digital Vibes. Yesterday, SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said they would not comment on the progress of their investigations, but were working hard to meet the June 30 deadline and hand over their findings to Ramaphosa. Previously, Kganyago said: “We promised to complete our investigation by the end of this month, but we have to brief the president first especially about the Digital Vibes probe. “We will have to brief him if there are any referral for disciplinary action to be taken. “If our investigation finds any wrongdoing…

Keith Blake | Ottery THE biggest achievement a young person, our children, can achieve is to start getting an education from Grade R and then complete Grade 12. Some are blessed to attend universities. Before I go further on this issue, we cannot forget that, in 1976, the youth took to the streets in massive protest actions. What came strongly to the fore, this past Youth Day, is that many youngsters are deeply troubled and concerned about not being employed after obtaining a hard-earned and well-deserved education. After all, that is, in the main, a top target of all our youth. This is not happening, wave after wave of educated youth, year after year, are deeply despondent as their frantic attempts to get employment are not being realised.…

Willem Phungula and Gcwalisile Khanyile The South African government has been blamed for failing to develop its own vaccine and for a slow vaccination rollout. Up until yesterday, the government had vaccinated just over 2 million people which is a far cry from the targeted 40 million to reach herd immunity. Professor Sphamandla Zondi, a political scientist at the University of Johannesburg who is also a member of the Institute for Global Dialogue, said the country must be ashamed that with such resources it was failing to speed up the vaccination of its own people and develop its own vaccine. Zondi said this undermined the country’s claim of being one of the leading states in Africa and a key BRICS member. He said the failure by the country to meet…

WITH the local government elections looming, conversations with humans from all colours of the South African rainbow often awkwardly stumble around one question: “But who will we vote for?’ This question comes from the analysis that the ANC has profoundly disappointed the high school class of ’76 and ’85. While the youth vote is important, the voting group aged 45 to 60 is critical. They were tear gassed and detained under apartheid. They barricaded townships and led economic boycotts. Their 14 and 16-year-old bodies filled marches and civic centres as they inspired the resistance to apartheid. Ashley Kriel was 14 when he joined the Bonteheuwel Youth Movement as an activist in 1980. Ashley would have been 55 this year. Some of the ’76 and ’85s have broken out of deep…

They made headlines Don Nelson Don Nelson Publishers Review: Barbara Spaanderman DON Nelson began a publishing house in 1971 on a shoestring budget. He was successful, and his publishing career covers mainly sport books and cookery books. Sport has served him well, and he has covered the greats, such as Chester Williams, Gary Kirsten, Frik du Preez and Louis Luyt. Covid-19 has had a serious impact on his business. “The lockdown was tough, I couldn’t go to my office every day, although I did sneak in sometimes. It’s also tough on staff. We had to cut back from 12 people to five.” They Made Headlines “describes memorable moments involving 20 South African sportsmen, from cricketer Basil d’Oliviera to the racehorse Sea Cottage”. The sportsmen covered dominated the news during their…

IF the PSL doesn’t change its administrative ways, then the league is nowhere near to being one of the best. Not only globally, but on the continent as well, especially after their recent court battle with first division side Royal AM. A few days ago, the English Premier League released a full list of fixtures ahead of the new season. But the PSL was still caught up in a fiasco – trying to resolve which of the two teams will be promoted to the top-flight and which will play in the relegation/promotion play-offs. This could have been avoided – if and only if – the league attended to matters instantly, upon arising. Sekhukhune United were convinced they were the rightful champions after being awarded three points by arbitrator Hilton Epstein…

Jerusalem: Israel’s new government yesterday ordered a commission of inquiry into the “awful disaster” of 45 Jewish pilgrims crushed to death at Mount Meron in April. Setting up the inquiry was an electoral promise of several parties in the coalition government led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who unseated veteran premier Benjamin Netanyahu last week. Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews had packed a site at Mount Meron in northern Israel on April 30 at a pilgrimage to the tomb of second century rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. The stampede in the male section of the gender-divided site is believed to have started as people moved through a narrow passageway that became a deadly choke-point. At least 16 children and teens were among the 45 dead.…

Italy topped their group in the European Championship after a third consecutive win yesterday, with a first-half goal from Matteo Pessina giving them a 1-0 victory over 10-man Wales, who also advance to the knockout stage of the competition. The Italians had already guaranteed their progress, while Wales secured a berth too by finishing ahead of Switzerland on goal difference. Italy manager Roberto Mancini made eight changes to rest most of his first-choice starters, but Italy still dominated and missed several chances either side of Pessina’s 42nd-minute goal, when he steered a low Marco Verratti free-kick into the far corner. Welsh centre-back Ethan Ampadu was shown a straight red card in the 55th minute for stamping on Federico Bernadeschi’s foot, and Wales then missed their best chance of an equaliser…

Nomalanga Tshuma nomalanga.tshuma@inl.co.za POLICE in Khayelitsha successfully foiled a cable theft in Site C over the weekend. Crime prevention patrols in Khayelitsha recovered a roll of cables that had been stripped from a fire station in Japhta K Masemola Road in Site C, Khayelitsha, on Saturday afternoon. According to the police, officers on patrol came across four suspects who were cutting wire cables at the station, prompting them to react by giving chase and securing the stolen cables. Police spokesperson Novela Potelwa said: “Lockdown II contingent were on patrol in Japhta K Masemola Road in Site C, Khayelitsha, when they spotted four suspects cutting cables at a fire station on Saturday. Officers gave chase, but the suspects managed to evade arrest by disappearing into the shacks in the area.…

Zintle Mahlati zintle.mahlati@inl.co.za THE SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) says its members should “ready themselves for war with the employer” as the parties at the SA Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) have until tomorrow to accept or reject a facilitator’s wage offer. Parties at the SALGBC have been holding negotiations over a wage increase for months. This culminated in the matter being brought before a facilitator at the beginning of June. Samwu is demanding a minimum sectoral wage of R15 000, a R4 000 salary increase across the board, six months’ fully paid maternity leave, one month of fully paid paternity leave and a R3 500 housing allowance. The SA Local Government Association has proposed a 2.8% salary increase. The union is not happy that the facilitator has proposed a…

IS FARMING about to become an underground activity? In England it already has. Ten storeys deep, under the streets of London, a World War II bomb shelter is being used as a farm, producing lush harvests of leafy vegetables like lettuce, cabbage, spinach and broccoli. Where thousands of terrified Londoners once cowered from German bombs, rows and rows of trays filled with plants flourish under artificial light. In a relatively small and crowded country like England this makes good sense. The population grows while the living space remains static. In the competition between people and cabbages, people usually win because cabbages don’t make the decisions (although I sometimes wonder). As a Karoo-bred boytjie I find the notion of underground farming totally unacceptable. I’ve always believed that food was the product…

THANK you for affording the City the opportunity to respond to the letter “Can the power surge after load shedding cause a fire?” (Cape Argus, June 14). Residents are encouraged to reduce the risk and occurrence of nuisance tripping by switching off appliances before load shedding. Nuisance tripping might in some instances damage electrical equipment or cause a fire. Power surges entail the oversupply of a voltage which generally last a fraction of a second but, if severe, can damage digital and computer equipment, which could start a fire. Power surges generally happen in one of two ways: 1. Surges during switching on of the grid after load shedding. These last milli-seconds and are unlikely to generate enough heat to cause a fire but can be dangerous for sensitive electronic…

EVERYBODY: A book about Freedom Olivia Laing Norton Review: Aziz Huq, Washington Post FREEDOM in the pandemic for many of us has taken the form of confinement. White-collar workers "Zooming" with colleagues have been free from the perils of human contact. A grocery store clerk, hospital supervisor or delivery driver has had no such freedom. These workers have had to enter the world so others could maintain their luxurious, if ennui-stained, existences. While Olivia Laing does not directly touch upon the coronavirus until the closing pages of her new book, Everybody, she widely interrogates the pressing questions of what counts as freedom. She investigates how privileges of rank and identity bind us and bring us both pleasure and hardship, and help determine what kind of freedom is viable on a…

FARMING and agribusiness play a crucial role in sustaining the economies of small towns and rural areas. There is a lot of evidence of this in the economic literature and in the popular media. This dependency has its inherent risks. International literature tends to focus on the devastation of small towns in times of drought or when farming lobby groups argue for particular policies. In South Africa a different pattern has emerged. This is when municipalities fail to provide basic services to their communities and businesses. These services include water and sanitation, electricity, roads and technological infrastructure. South Africa has a three-tier system of governance. National government sets national economic development policy and drives the search for investment by both domestic and international investors. Provincial government plays a big role…

Addis Ababa: Twice delayed, hobbled by the coronavirus pandemic, violent insecurity and planning chaos, Ethiopia’s electoral board says it is ready for today’s crucial vote and assures it will be credible. “We’re actually very confident about it,” the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) spokesperson Solyana Shimeles said. It is not optimism shared by all, with serious doubts remaining over the vote Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed pledged would be the most competitive in Africa’s second-most populous nation. Voting won’t proceed in about a fifth of the country’s 547 constituencies due to unrest and logistical problems. Those constituencies will mostly vote in September, but no ballot is scheduled in Tigray, a war-torn region of six million. In some areas where voting will proceed, opposition boycotts have further undermined inclusivity claims. The…

New Delhi: The WHO yesterday called on countries in the WHO South-East Asia region to scale up public health and social measures, along with efforts to accelerate vaccination for Covid-19 and prevent another surge. Besides personal protective measures, the measures include cleaning, disinfection, ventilation, surveillance, contact tracing, isolation and quarantine. Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director, said: “Even as countries scale up vaccination against Covid-19, they need to implement public health and social measures in a tailored and agile way. It should be implemented by the lowest administrative level and continuously adjusted to the intensity of transmission and the capacity of health systems.”…

Stuart Hess stuart.hess@inl.co.za The Proteas’ rebuilding – which has been going on for far too long – finally looks like it’s got a sturdy framework. Stiffer examinations await – most notably (and hopefully) India in the summer – but South Africa’s Test team needed a solid base to work off and it looks like they are finally getting that in the West Indies. That foundation is not only made up of personnel but understanding each other, seeing rewards for their hard work, playing consistently and importantly, gaining confidence. The Proteas’ sole series win last season against Sri Lanka lacked consistency. They were helped by the Sri Lankans suffering so many injuries in the first Test, but in the second when they really should have put the Lions away, the South…

Julian Kiewietz julian.kiewietz@inl.co.za Will there be a changing of the guard in the Bellator featherweight division? If this week’s virtual media day interaction was anything to go by, then No 1 ranked AJ (Antonio De Carlo) McKee (17-0) has already taken one of the promotion’s greatest athletes, Patricio Pitbull’s (Freire) (32-4) strap. The two athletes will meet in the cage on July 31 at the culmination of the Bellator featherweight World Championship Grand Prix. The tournament, which initially saw 16 athletes start out in a quest for a $1-million grand prize, takes place at the Forum in Inglewood, California. Most times, it can do a world of damage when you are able to climb into the psyche of your opponent. But aside from the mental warfare, AJ has proven over…