Indholdsfortegnelse for 2021-08-20 i Cape Argus

MUSIC genres created by black people have a long history of being repackaged and plagiarised. The Cadillac Car scene in Dreamgirls illustrates this perfectly where Jimmy Early (Eddie Murphy) and the Dreams record the song but it only gets radio play when it’s redone by white performers. More famously, Elvis Presley stole Hound Dog from Big Mama Thornton and went on to become a global sensation. Similarly, while Chuck Berry is widely recognised as the father of rock ’n’ roll, the genre was mostly used to propel white artists who were made the face and “pioneers” of the genre, quickly erasing the BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of colour) responsible for its creation. In recent years, while some artists have been culture vultures – stares at Drake – for the…

Nomalanga Tshuma nomalanga.tshuma@inl.co.za A 21-YEAR-OLD woman from the Eastern Cape is facing charges of kidnapping following her arrest in Knysna earlier this week. The suspect was apprehended by the Tsitsikamma K9 unit while allegedly hiding a missing 2-year-old girl from Kirkwood. The child had reportedly been missing for almost two weeks, following her disappearance from her family home, where she was last seen playing outside on August 4. Police spokesperson Christopher Spies said following the suspect’s arrest, police had arranged for her transfer to the Eastern Cape where she will appear in court. “A 21-year-old suspect was transferred to the Eastern Cape for an expected court appearance, following her arrest earlier this week in Knysna when the Tsitsikamma K9 unit traced a missing 2-year-old toddler to a residence where the…

Siyabonga Mkhwanazi and Mayibongwe Maqhina FORMER Defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula officially begins her first day as the National Assembly Speaker today following her election by a majority of ANC MPs in the House yesterday. The ANC had to use its majority vote in Parliament to elect her after the DA fielded Annelie Lotriet for the position. But opposition parties and analysts warned that Mapisa-Nqakula’s election was questionable given the allegations levelled against her. But the former minister assured MPs that she would work with all political parties. “I also felt great pride both as a member of this House and as a South African observing the exercise of democracy during these proceedings with all parties, big and small, fully utilising the opportunity and space to nominate freely the candidate…

Baldwin Ndaba baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za EMBATTLED North West Premier Job Mokgoro is allegedly demanding an apology from ANC provincial leaders for accusing him of being responsible for the poor management of local municipalities. It is believed that Mokgoro wants the apology before he steps down. Mokgoro’s alleged act scuppered the ANC North West’s planned move to swear in its premier-elect, Bushy Maape, as a member of the provincial legislature and premier. Adding to the ANC’s woes, none of the 21 ANC members, including Mokgoro, had offered to resign their seats by last night. Although it was widely expected that Mokgoro would submit his letter of resignation following talks with ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte, the office of the legislature’s speaker, Susan Daantjie, yesterday said they had not received any letter. Daantjie’s…

Mwangi Githahu mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za THE Auditor-General’s 2019/20 Local Government Audit Outcomes revealed that 25 municipalities out of the 30 in the province received unqualified audit outcomes, but four municipalities are in arrears with Eskom to the tune of R125 million. During a presentation to the local government standing committee, the Auditor-General’s Western Cape acting business unit leader Ashley Olkers said that after a total of R73 billion expenditure budget was taken into consideration, 18 municipalities were given clean audits. “This is a 38% improvement from the previous financial year which only saw 13 local governments achieve clean audits. This year, more municipalities have moved into the clean audit outcome category. Nine municipalities sit in the unqualified but with findings category. Two municipalities were in the qualified category, and only one was…

STAFF REPORTER THE lockdown was expected to increase violence towards women because it resulted in their social isolation, but whether the lockdown did indeed have this effect is more complicated, research has found. This week, the Heinrich Böll Foundation launched the first of a series of research briefs, led by researchers and gender activists Lisa Vetten and Kailash Bhana in collaboration with the National Shelter Movement of South Africa. The project is dedicated to better understanding how Covid-19 and the lockdown has affected domestic violence in South Africa. Early into the lockdown, politicians and the media reported that domestic violence had become a second pandemic based on the high number of calls received by the Gender-based Violence Command Centre (GBVCC). The researchers however said that the reality proved to…

The effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 declines faster than that of the AstraZeneca jab, according to a new study published yesterday. The Oxford University study, which has not been peer reviewed, found that “the dynamics of immunity following second doses differed significantly” between Pfizer and AstraZeneca. Pfizer had “greater initial effectiveness” but saw “faster declines in protection against high viral burden and symptomatic infection”, over several months. | AFP…

MIHLALI BALEKA @Mihlalibaleka INDEED, the winds of change are blowing at Bafana Bafana. This was evident after coach Hugo Broos selected a relatively youthful squad for the Fifa 2022 World Cup qualifiers against Zimbabwe and Ghana next month. Often players have been recycled at the national team, with some not selected on merit or form, but on popularity or experience. This was almost a “safe card” by coaches who perhaps knew their jobs were on the line. Belgian Broos is instead determined to rebuild the team and giving youngsters a chance. After all, that had worked for him when Cameroon won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2017. Broos won’t have to stress about the continental showpiece next year, given that his predecessor Molefi Ntseki had failed to inspire the…

ZAAHIER ADAMS zaahier.adams@inl.co.za FORMER Proteas opening batsman Pieter Malan is hoping to utilise his experience of playing for Warwickshire in the county championship in his new role as Rocks captain. Malan continued the proud legacy Warwickshire shares with South African cricketers, spending the past off-season as an overseas professional at Edgbaston. The 32-year-old followed in the footsteps of fellow former Proteas such as Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir and Monde Zondeki to turn out for Warwickshire. However, despite heading to England on the back of a career-best 264 in his final match for the Cape Cobras, Malan’s early-season form flattered to deceive as he endured a wretched run at the crease. But having been through plenty of ups and downs during a 14-year first-class career, Malan showed…

| African News Agency (ANA) THE high court in Pretoria has sentenced 31-year-old Thabang Lephoi from Soshanguve to one life term and five years in jail for the murder of his infant son and for defeating the administration of justice. Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela convicted him earlier this year for the murder of his three-month-old baby boy. In November 2017, Lephoi returned from a night shift to the house he shared with the baby’s mother. On arrival, he started packing the baby’s belongings and preparing the child, said the spokesperson for the director of public prosecutions, Lumka Mahanjana. “When the mother enquired what he was doing, he told her he was taking the baby to live with his mother (the child’s grandmother) in Vryburg. An argument arose between the two…

Artist Ryno Swart remembered INTERNATIONALLY acclaimed painter Ryno Swart, one of the foremost figurative artists of the second half of the 20th century, has died from Covid-19, his family said. He was 76. After studying a BA Fine Art at the University of Stellenbosch, Swart worked as an art educator, visualiser, scriptwriter and film storyboarder in the 1970s in Johannesburg before moving to Paris, where he was inspired to commit to a career as a fine artist. Returning to South Africa, he had his first solo exhibition at the Everard Read Gallery in 1980. By the end of the 1980s, Swart was exhibiting in France and he followed an international trajectory with exhibitions across Europe, where he spent part of each year painting, often leading groups of South African artists…

Kristin Engel kristin.engel@inl.co.za TO ADDRESS current threats to South Africa’s biodiversity and their effects on human life, the World Wide Fund for Nature SA’s Living Planet Conference 2021 is set to launch this month. The conference will explore these dangers as well as the dramatic decline in species’ populations resulting from habitat loss and degradation. This year marks the eighth edition of the WWF’s conference, which will be held virtually from August 24-26, with discussions about securing biodiversity, the role of financing and the business community, issues around climate and water security and the importance of indigenous knowledge in efforts to secure biodiversity. WWF said there was a serious decline in species, an issue that needed to be addressed as this was not a positive reflection of overall ecosystem…

Sihle Mavuso sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za THE High Court in Pietermaritzburg has directed former President Jacob Zuma’s lawyers, alongside the State Capture Commission of Inquiry, its chairperson Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, Police Minister Bheki Cele and National Police Commissioner General Khehla Sitole to state whether any international law was violated in detaining Zuma. The court emphasised that their submissions should not be more than 20 pages. Zuma’s lawyers, led by advocate Dali Mpofu SC and Thabani Masuku SC, argued that the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and South Africa’s Constitution did not allow one to be detained without trial. Mpofu maintained that on that basis, the court should rescind its ruling on June 29 and free Zuma from the Estcourt prison in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands where he is…

Samkelo Mtshali samkelo.thulasizwe@inl.co.za THE third day of the inquest into the death of dentist Dr Hoosen Haffejee saw three witnesses take the stand at the Pietermaritzburg High Court to detail why the 26-year-old could not have committed suicide. First on the stand was Thivash Moodley, an aeronautical engineer who has worked for the past 22 years in mechanical and aeronautical engineering in aerospace defence, in the maritime field and road and rail logistics. Moodley took almost an hour to break down to Judge ZP Nkosi the improbability of Haffejee committing suicide, given the position in which he had been found in his cell. Using picture evidence and video re-enactment provided to the court, Moodley said that Haffejee’s body was hanging from the lowest bar of a grille door and a…

Shakirah Thebus shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za MAYOR Dan Plato maintained his support for DA City councillor Nora Grose, charged with fraud and money laundering, during a City Council meeting yesterday. Plato responded to questions on corruption and Covid-19 during the virtual tabling of the adjustment budget for 2021/2022. Plato referred to the charges investigated by the Hawks as “frivolous”. “Councillor Grose has suffered enough and that suffering of councillor Grose by the Hawks and by the shenanigans of the frivolous charges must now come to an end,” Plato said. During his opening remarks, Plato said the proposed budget amendments “will have no detrimental impact on the provision of basic services”. It is proposed that R530 million of the City’s capital budget be rolled over. “The bulk of these funds, R253.3m, will go toward…

The last time Tsitsi saw her young children in Zimbabwe was 20 months ago – when she left Johannesburg to make her annual trip home in December 2019. With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been exceedingly difficult to make it home to see her young daughters. Tsitsi had no choice but to look for work in South Africa in 2007 when the economy in Zimbabwe collapsed, her home was bulldozed by the government in Operation Murambatsvina, and her family was left destitute. Then-president Robert Mugabe had deemed her informal settlement a hotbed of opposition, and had ordered it be raised to the ground. Everything she had ever worked for had gone up in smoke. Either she came to South Africa to earn an income, or her family…

Facebook Inc yesterday launched a test of a new virtual-reality remote Horizon Workrooms app where users of the company’s Oculus Quest 2 headsets can hold meetings as avatar versions of themselves. Facebook sees its latest launch as an early step toward building the futuristic “metaverse” that CEO Mark Zuckerberg has touted in recent weeks. In its first full VR news briefing, the company showed how The world’s largest social network has invested heavily in virtual and augmented reality. | Reuters…

Eshlin Vedan eshlin.vedan@inl.co.za ROYAL AM goalkeeper coach Postnet Omony has confirmed that the club plans to integrate the players from the acquired Bloemfontein Celtic alongside their top performers from last season as they prepare for their tricky opening day Premiership clash against Swallows FC at Dobsonville Stadium on Sunday. The controversial Durban-based club suddenly find themselves in the top flight after having acquired the PSL status of the now defunct Celtic. Royal AM lost their court case which they had hoped would see them being crowned as winners of last season’s GladAfrica Championship, ahead of Sekhukhune United. During the week, Celtic players were informed by their now former boss Max Tshabalala that they needed to get to Durban and meet their new boss Shauwn Mkhize. It is uncertain how much…

Mwangi Githahu mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za The Labour Court has found in favour of a Bellville security firm that dismissed an employee for gross dishonesty when he lied to his boss about a second hand tool cutter. Adenaan Moses was dismissed from his job at the firm when he was found to have taken a second hand cutter from the tool-shelf and tried to pass it off as his own to his manager, identified in court papers only as H. Spence, to get a new cutter. The incident was caught on CCTV. When Moses took the matter to the CCMA the arbitrator confirmed that he was guilty of dishonesty and also found there was no procedural unfairness in the conduct of the inquiry. In the CCMA award the arbitrator wrote: “His body language…

Mthuthuzeli Ntseku mthuthuzeli.ntseku@inl.co.za THE case against a Franschhoek man accused of attacking 37-year-old Andy Makoma with a chainsaw on August 7 has been remanded until August 30 for the outcome of his bail application. Elroy Erasmus, 34, made his third appearance in the Paarl Magistrate’s Court yesterday for his bail application. Erasmus is facing an attempted murder charge after he allegedly attacked Makoma in his house – in front of his wife and children – accusing him of insulting his wife earlier on that Saturday. Makoma’s family friend Jeanne Farley said doctors said he had lost a lot of blood and his kidneys had suffered, but he had recovered completely. “This is an indication of how strong he is and suggests that soon his recovery should be good generally.…

Mthuthuzeli Ntseku mthuthuzeli.ntseku@inl.co.za HOUT Bay activists have accused the City of using law enforcement officers to intimidate and instil fear in Hangberg residents. They said the City deployed law enforcement officials to threaten residents to demolish their structures while wasting resources that could be used to help other communities. This after about 20 vehicles including Casspirs and trucks were deployed to the area on Wednesday and officers removed a fence around a structure. Community leaders, Jeffery Jonkers and (chief) Reagan James were arrested and charged with public violence. Police spokesperson Joseph Swartbooi said two men, aged 32 and 36, were expected to appear in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court once charged. Activist Roscoe Jacobs said the victimisation of residents started in 2010 and still continued. “The City must make available…

Zintle Mahlati zintle.mahlati@inl.co.za A conciliator’s report has recommended a 3.5% increase for municipal workers following the third round of conciliation talks between unions and the SA Local Government Association (Salga) Municipal unions are expected to make the final decision on the latest conciliator’s recommendation in the protracted local government wage negotiations for this year. The third round of conciliation proceedings between Salga and municipal unions, Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) and SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), concluded this week. The conciliator has since recommended a 3.5% increase across the board with an added once-off non-pensionable R4 000 cash payment for workers earning less than R12 000 and R3 000 non-pensionable cash payment for workers earning more than R12 000. The offer comes amid the protracted wage negotiations in…

Shakirah Thebus shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za the Cabinet has approved the vaccination of people aged between 18 and 35 from today. The National Coronavirus Command Council reported that more than nine million vaccines had been administered, with more than seven million people partially vaccinated, and more than four million fully vaccinated. During the province’s weekly digicon on Covid-19 yesterday, the head of the provincial health department Keith Cloete said the department had said prior to the decision being announced that it had capacity to respond should this cohort be given the go-ahead to receive vaccinations. “Our sites are prepared for it. We have about 30 000 vaccinations per day. If this registration is open for that age group, we have the capacity to go to about 45 000, even 50 000 vaccinations per…

| Washington Post | AFP A wailing rose on Wednesday from the brass section in front of what was left of St Joseph’s Catholic Church. A drum beat added to the doleful rhythm as women in white emitted guttural, anguished cries at the foot of a flower- covered coffin. It was a lament for Delfrygny Barbier, a truck driver killed in the earthquake that shook Haiti’s southwestern peninsula last weekend. It was also a lament for L’Asile, this proud farming community 18km from the epicentre, that now lies in ruin. But perhaps more than anything, the Reverend Lucson Simeon said before putting on his white vestments for yet another funeral, it was a lament for Haiti. “It is as if we are cursed,” Simeon said. “We just…

ZAAHIER ADAMS zaahier.adams@inl.co.za LAST season Mamelodi Sundowns won the Premiership for the fourth consecutive time. Despite a mid-season blip in late April that saw the Brazilians being held by both KwaZulu-Natal teams, AmaZulu FC and Golden Arrows, which sandwiched a defeat to Kaizer Chiefs, Sundowns still eased to the championship with a 13-point cushion. They’ve lifted the Premiership trophy six times out of the last eight seasons. Last season they scored eight more goals than anybody else and conceded the same number fewer. Their goal difference of 35 was 20 goals superior to their nearest rivals and tonight’s season-opening opponents AmaZulu (5pm kick-off). Can the yellow and blue machine’s dominance even be stopped, then? “I think our rivals are much stronger. Chiefs are stronger, (Orlando) Pirates are stronger. Swallows are…