Indholdsfortegnelse for 2021-09-01 i Cape Argus

Gerry Cupido geraldine.cupido@inl.co.za Just when I though I’d seen it all, yet another crazy fashion or beauty trend pops up, leaving me once again saying: “Now I’ve really seen it all!” We’ve seen the unexpected return of the dreaded mullet cut, which left the older generation cringing while the millennials thought it was the coolest look ever. Then there was rainbow hair that had people walking around looking like they’ve been dipped in unicorn juice. However, we can’t blame people for experimenting with their hair these days. During the hard lockdown everybody found ways to keep their spirits up and the fact that we didn’t have access to hairdressers forced us to take clippers into our own hands. Boredom might have something to do with it as well. The…

Sisonke Mlamla sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za Driven by a deep concern over the increase in violence in schools, the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) has boosted its “I am a school fan” campaign against violence in schools. The campaign aims to mobilise stakeholders including parents, teachers, learners and government departments to address school-related violence. The union has partnered with Old Mutual, Brand South Africa and the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) to gain more traction and drive awareness in schools. Sadtu general secretary Mugwena Maluleke said there were many extensions to the campaign. Ultimately, it focused on bettering behaviours and attitudes in learners and teachers. Maluleke said the main point of the launch in August was to address the prevalence of violence within the schools. This violence existed on multiple levels. Thembisa Mapukuta,…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za A FORMER Transnet executive must pay back R26 million he used to buy six properties worth R15.2m in eight months, and 36 cars in just more than a year through the proceeds of unlawful activities. Ex-Transnet Capital Projects chief executive Linyenga Herbert Msagala, his trusts, IGS Consulting Engineers and its sole member Sipho Sithole, were hauled before the Special Tribunal by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and Transnet to force them to repay R18.4m siphoned from the state-owned rail, logistics, port and pipeline company. During the tribunal’s proceedings, it was established that Msagala received a further amount of more than R8m from IGS and Sithole. Special Tribunal Judge Lebogang Modiba detailed the extent of the crimes Msagala, his trusts, Sithole and his company are accused of committing…

Baldwin Ndaba baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za THE ANC may lose control over several municipalities following its failure to meet the August 23 deadline set by the Electoral Commissions (IEC) to register all its candidates for the local government elections next month. The party has indicated that it would turn to the Electoral Court for a remedy, arguing that the late filing and registration of candidates with the IEC was due to technical glitches and the Covid-19 pandemic. But last night, unconfirmed reports emerged that the party had withdrawn its application from the Electoral Court. The governing party sought to ask the court to compel the IEC to give other political parties in a similar situation more time to register their candidates. The application came after the ANC failed to file candidates in…

KOERT MEYER | Welgelegen WHO could enjoy his dinner tonight while watching how heartless this “City that works for us”, this “Mother City”, is treating her stepchildren? The Bible mentions the hen that covers her chicks with her body to protect them. We are experiencing one of the coldest last few days before spring, even snow on Table Mountain, and our homeless people are harassed by Gestapo-like officers carrying out their masters’ orders all hours of the day and night. This DA was invited to help govern this country by Madiba in 1994 in a Government of National Unity, but they knew what was best for them, and them alone. They will sooner see this country going to the dogs, and even help it get there, than be…

Michael Holmes | Ottery ELECTRICITY prices are on the rise, while many people’s disposable income declines. This is because of mismanagement of Eskom, which has gone from a first-class utility to a national liability, and an existential threat to our nation’s economy. We are being forced to pay for this ballooning Eskom debt, which means that our electricity prices are going up, Eskom is charging 17.8% more in the 2021/2022 financial year. The City has to pay 17.8% more for electricity. However, by running a cost-effective electricity service, the City has been able to absorb some of the increases in electricity – but it is not immune. The City uses 65% of your tariff rates that to go straight to Eskom. The remaining 35% of the tariff includes…

OUR unemployment rate has officially been backed by Bloomberg, putting the unofficial employment rate of just over 35%. Based on the expanded definition of unemployment, we are beyond 50%. We compare unfavourably to Namibia, Nigeria, Tunisia, even Spain and Brazil. Last week, we received the Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the second quarter of this year, which shows that we lost another 50 000 jobs. These figures have been broken down and can be expanded to show the number of discouraged job seekers, which is greater. Over and above these horrific figures, we are still facing Covid-19-related hazards. A welcome relief fund opened on August 25 for Ters for workers and companies that suffered losses due to the recent violence in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. It must be said that…

More than 7 000 schools have been damaged as a result of the expanding conflict in Ethiopia, the education minister has said. 1.42 million students have been unable to attend classes in the war-torn region of Tigray. Northern Ethiopia has been wracked by violence since November, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray to topple the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). As the conflict has deepened, aid workers are struggling to reach cut-off populations. 400 000 face famine. | AFP…

Stuart Hess stuart.hess@inl.co.za DALE Steyn can now provide his full attention to fishing, surfing, walking the dogs and the odd bit of cooking. Cricket is no longer a priority. His retirement, made via social media and using lyrics from his favourite band, Counting Crows, brought the curtain down on a career of one of the game’s greatest fast bowlers. The numbers tell one story – his Test strike-rate of 42.3 is the best for anyone who has taken over 300 wickets – but there are several others about Steyn, who never took his talents for granted and was respected, admired and loved by teammates and rivals. He retired from the Test format in August 2019 but still had hopes of playing for the Proteas at the T20 World Cup, which…

Mthuthuzeli Ntseku mthuthuzeli.ntseku@inl.co.za A RECENT report by the Institute of Race Relations on the voting preferences of the LGBTQ population has revealed the group is an untapped strategic voting bloc for political parties. Named The SA Pink Vote, it also revealed that the LGBTQ population might form a much larger voting bloc than expected and that it was possible for political parties with different ideological viewpoints to compete for support from LGBTQ voters. It also found that LGBTQ voters tend to be more politically engaged than voters from other groups. Gerbrandt van Heerden, the author of the report, said if political parties continued to ignore this voting bloc during elections, they risked missing out on attracting an active, dynamic and electorally valuable group, “Studies conducted by The Other Foundation have…

Siyabonga MkhwanazI siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za HEALTH Minister Joe Phaahla wants the law to go after all those behind corruption with investigations under way in the national department and provinces. This comes after the murder of senior Gauteng health department official Babita Deokaran, who was gunned down a week ago outside her home in the south of Johannesburg. Six suspects have since appeared in court. A seventh person was released due to a lack of evidence. Phaahla told the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) that the government had been clamping down on corruption, with the Special Investigating Unit, the Hawks, the auditor-general and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) conducting investigations into personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts. “Let me say this, that ours is to really dig whenever we get something and make sure…

Sihle Mavuso sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za #FEESMUSTFALL activist Bonginkosi Khanyile will have to wait another week to find out if he will be released on bail. This comes after magistrate Vincent Hlatshwayo of the Durban Magistrate’s Court yesterday reserved judgment in Khanyile’s bail application. This will effectively mark the second week since the firebrand youth leader was arrested on August 21. Khanyile was arrested for his alleged role in instigating July’s unrest which descended into looting and destruction of businesses, sparked by the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma for defying a Constitutional Court order. When the matter resumed yesterday, investigating officer Lieutenant-Colonel Anton Booysen took the stand to testify on behalf of the State. Booysen faced tough questions from Khanyile’s lawyer Masibone Matomela and magistrate Hlatshwayo over the arrest of his…

Biodiversity bill generates wild discussion Kristin Engel kristin.engel@inl.co.za SUBMISSIONS on the Western Cape Biodiversity Bill were discussed by the standing committee on agriculture with comments that varied from supportive to contentious. Submissions were made by Birdlife SA, the City, the Department of Community Safety, Department of Agriculture, Department of Transport and Public Works, SA National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi), Western Cape Biosphere Reserves NPC, Wildlife Ranching SA, Agri WC, Salga, Drakenstein, Whale Coast Conservation, Wildlife Animal Protection SA and Wildlife Ranchers’ Forum. Biodiversity and Coastal management director Marlene Laros said they received varying comments on the draft framework bill, ranging from language used to arrangements of the sections set out. A few of the submissions suggested they increase marine protected areas (MPAs) both offshore, coast and estuary and that the framework…

I AM fully aware that a lot of scepticism confronts my naiveté regarding the English language, especially after language and many other facets of life have become politicised as overt tools of ideology. I write in English without ever having lived in England. And the spectre of colonialism taints me as a wanna-be or play-white, or some such aberration into which people are forced through unfair legislation or personal choice. Helen Zille was publicly chastised for suggesting that colonialism brought some good. The reprimand was almost comical, because any meeting of various cultures leaves remnants of itself on the other. One’s resentments cannot eliminate truths. It’s a puerile attitude that suggests that street-name changes or other such-like acts of public indignation will eradicate the bitter truths behind the narratives. The…

Aneez Salie THE issue of journalists and social media commentators arrested for their tweets is an outright attack on freedom of speech and that of the rights media have to report/opine/comment on issues of the day – in whichever country this occurs. Whether it is Turkey, which has the highest recorded number of jailed media commentators in the world, or South Africa, we are once again beginning to experience a suppression of voices. It was a feature of the hated and brutal apartheid regime that it regarded the black masses of South Africa as “slow thinkers”, lacking the ability to think for themselves and come to their own decisions; that they were easily swayed and misled by “instigators and agitators” and thus needed to be hand-fed a single narrative…

Russia’s ban on the Taliban as a terrorist group has not stopped Moscow officials from stepping in to support it, calling for the freeze on Afghanistan’s reserves to be lifted and for Western countries to lead a global conference to rebuild Afghanistan’s economy. Russia’s envoy on Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said Monday that the international community should unfreeze the Afghan government’s reserves or risk a spike in illegal narcotics and arms traffic. He also called for an international conference to support Afghanistan’s recovery under the Taliban’s leadership, so that the US and allies could “correct at least some of the mistakes they have made” in the past 20 years, speaking to state-owned television. The US froze Afghanistan central bank reserves held in US institutions on Aug. 15. The bank has around…

THE entire board of Iceland's football federation (KSI) has resigned after a woman accused it of covering up claims of alleged sexual assault by a national squad player. KSI chairman, Gudni Bergsson, already stepped down late Sunday and the association issued a statement acknowledging that its board had not handled the situation correctly. Now, following an emergency five-hour session on Monday, the board's other 16 members resigned as well, KSI said in a statement later that day. On Friday, Thorhildur Gyda Arnarsdottir, now 25, had told public broadcaster RUV that a member of the national team had grabbed her crotch and grabbed her by the neck, before assaulting her with another individual, in a Reykjavik nightclub in September 2017. Arnarsdottir and another woman had filed police reports against a player…

Buhle Mbonambi buhle.mbonambi@inl.co.za I was recently asked how I dealt with the pain of living through this pandemic. My answer was simple: food. But for others, it was a time to put their feelings on record and ride out the difficulties brought on by Covid-19 through writing. Mich Atagana is one of those who decided to write and more than 18 months later, has three books to her name. I spoke to the tech journalist- turned-tech company communicator, about her three books – Moments: Thoughts, Feelings, Poems and the Truths that Make us Human; Love Hangoversand Notes from the Pandemic; and Other Anxiety Born Things. You’ve written three books since 2020 – has it long been a dream of yours? I think every journalist has a book in them or…

Gerry Cupido geraldine.cupido@inl.co.za SILVER or gold? Which do you prefer? While there are people who have strong feelings about which precious metal they prefer, there are others who can’t decide which is best for them. Even though gold is far more valuable than silver, and can appear to be more expensive even when it’s fake, it certainly doesn’t mean it’s best for everyone. If you don’t know which metal colour would suit you best, your skin’s undertone will in fact be your guide. What’s skin undertone? This is the tint beneath your skin. You can have either a warm or cold undertone. However, your undertone can also be neutral. The rule of thumb is: gold is best suited to warm tones while silver works better on cold tones. To find…

Shakirah Thebus shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za OVERCOME by emotions and the significance behind the court’s ruling, Anglican Church Reverend June Dolley-Major has expressed her gratitude that she was now allowed to name her alleged rapist. An urgent interdict was sought to gag Dolley-Major in March, at the Western Cape High Court, by an Anglican Church reverend, who she had accused of rape. She alleged the rape occurred in 2002, in Makhanda, and started posting about it on her social media in 2016. The outcome of the case was heard virtually yesterday, with the court dismissing the case – in which the alleged rapist sought to interdict Dolley-Major from posting about him publicly and on social media. Dolley-Major felt that it was not just a personal win, but had given rape survivors hope.…

Mthuthuzeli Ntseku mthuthuzeli.ntseku@inl.co.za THE Greater Tableview Action Forum (GTAF) has accused the City and its Municipal Planning Tribunal (MPT) of blatant bias, for allegedly favouring developers in the area and disregarding residents. This after the forum said it was expected to read a 1 000-page report and prepare oral presentations and submissions in less than two working days, while the applicant/developer had the report for months and was allowed presentation – with no counter argument by community members. The report relates to a development application for erf 89 in Arum Road. GTAF planning and biodiversity portfolio head David Ayres said a formal complaint against MPT chairperson David Daniels’ behaviour was sent to the mayor’s office. Ayres said when the forum received the list of items to be discussed by the…

Colin Bosman | Newlands WITH the “maybe” or “maybe not” municipal elections looming up, it’s perhaps worth mentioning that no DA-run municipalities are bankrupt, while a huge number of ANC-managed municipalities are either bankrupt, broken, or under administration. The problem with ANC-run municipalities is that they answer to no one but themselves. There are no checks and balances, and they simply bumble on until the wheels fall off. Even with coalition-run municipalities, which are by no means perfect – with bickering and finger pointing being the order of the day – they are still way and above better than the mismanagement, unauthorised spending, and graft, that goes on in some ANC-run municipalities, where no one is held to account. Like it or not, the future of politics in…

We are a group of Americans from Adventures in Missions (A.I.M) missionaries from the World Race programme and we were honoured to jointly participate with a group of young South Africans in a Peace Ambassador training programme on August 28. The training took place in an impoverished informal settlement which has no running water, no electricity, no sanitation, no refuse removal, no state housing, and yet we felt enriched. Two of the young peace ambassadors, Kadashia Davids and Zoë Abrahams, explained the key concepts of training, based on the peace multiplier designed by Professor Brian Williams, an award-winning poet. “We learnt, laughed and danced together. One critical and creative-thinking activity required us to interpret a poem from a peace perspective.” “One light One light, fractures steel veils of poisoned…

AS WE kick off Heritage Month, we ought to remember that language and culture are two pivotal factors for any South African. Your language and culture signify who you are. They build your character. It is no secret that when a person respects other people’s cultures, theyshow tolerance and courtesy. The sad reality, however, is that at times, those who live in our communities display high levels of intolerance over who we are, what we eat, where we live, the clothes we wear and ridi-cule our activities of choice. I’m familiar with how even those who form part of my Ndebele culture – who are supposed to understand me better – from time to time also show intolerance. I remember how, years back, when I began selling my Ndebele painted…

Matshelane Mamabolo BONGANI Mathebula. The name might not ring a bell now. But in a few years’ time, it should be as celebrated a household name as that of Nicholas Dlamini. At just 17-years-old, Mathebula is displaying the kind of cycling prowess that should take him to great heights in a sport you would not ordinarily associate with a youngster from Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga. Mathebula loves the sport and is pretty good at it as proven by his second place finish in the Vodacom Hippo Hollow Mountain racing barefoot on a handed-down jalopy of a bicycle. Such are the high barriers to entry into sports such as cycling, however, that talented youngsters like him often fall by the wayside and get lost to the dangerous trappings of township and village life.…