Indholdsfortegnelse for 2022-04-20 i Cape Argus

ONLINE payment gateway PayFast has partnered with consumer finance business RCS to launch a new payment method that enables consumers to make purchases using a range of store cards within the RCS stable of finance brands. This includes store card products from brands like Game, Makro, Cape Union Mart, Builders, CTM and more. The payment method will benefit both merchants, who will be paid upfront in full, and customers, who can pay off their purchases through flexible monthly instalments. PayFast head of product David Kusel said last week that alternative payment methods provided customers with convenience, enabling them to pay in a way that suits them. “In South Africa there are more store card holders than credit cards – this partnership supports the expansion and growth of our offering, as…

THE Baseline Civil Construction site in Mandela Drive, where the Macassar housing project is under way, has become the latest victim of the Quantum Gang, a crime syndicate wreaking havoc in the area and surroundings. Over the weekend four armed man in a Quantum minibus and an unidentified bakkie gained access to the construction site shortly after 11pm, tied up and assaulted two security guards on duty and made off with batteries and fuel from all the machines. The cuffed guards were allegedly discovered in the morning by supervisors. Police spokesperson Wesley Twigg said the police were investigating the business robbery. Twigg said no arrests had been made. The area has over the past months been terrorised by armed criminal groups hijacking cars, robbing businesses and kidnapping employees. Community leader…

Although women have made great strides in the legal profession in South Africa and their numbers have steadily increased, they still find it difficult to occupy senior positions or to become partners in law firms. This is according to Dr Tamlynne Meyer, who recently obtained her doctorate in sociology at Stellenbosch University. Meyer looked at how and why women attorneys, particularly black female attorneys, continue to be marginalised, despite the removal of formal barriers and the enactment of legislation and policies to spearhead transformation in the profession. She asked two questions: to what extent has the profession been feminised; and what factors impede women’s career prospects? “Because women are the subject of South Africa’s transformation project, my study considers the materiality of their everyday lives as they encounter and experience…

Common among several English dictionaries is that the word “resilience” is defined as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties”. They further define it as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity. This definition perfectly fits the reputation of our city. It is not the first time that eThekwini is on the receiving end of natural disasters, which are not our making. Had it not been for our being resilient, we would have been completely wiped off the face of the Earth. This catastrophe happened just after we bore the brunt of the civil unrest that left a trail of damage amounting to billions. Before that, in 2019, we were hit by floods that reduced many parts of our city to rubble, with scores of people being…

The Chinese city of Shanghai yesterday pleaded for public co-operation with a massive new push to test most of the population for Covid-19 as it tries to bring community transmission down to zero after nearly three weeks of lockdown. The plea came as some people refused to join PCR testing queues out of weariness after weeks of such requirements, or fear it puts them at greater risk of infection. Residents shared stories on social media about bus loads of people being taken from their homes and sent into quarantine, including babies and the elderly. Authorities are under pressure from Beijing to speed up transfers of positive cases and their close contacts to quarantine centres, fuelling fears about measures designed to completely stop the spread of the virus rather than just…

Cape Town City FC have threatened to stop their parent body, the Premier Soccer League (PSL), from rescheduling their DStv Premiership match against Kaizer Chiefs. Two days ago, the PSL advised their clubs via a circular, now infamously known as ‘Circular No 16 of the National Soccer League’, that the Premiership fixture, which was postponed in December 2021, will be replayed. The PSL’s decision was in keeping with the ruling by Safa arbitrator Nazeer Cassim SC, who said that Kaizer Chiefs will play the two matches they failed to play last December. The PSL were equally unhappy with Cassim’s ruling, and they approached the High Court with the aim of changing the decision. The matter is up for discussion on the High Court roll for May 10. The PSL were…

South Africans love a new sports star, and young sprint sensation Viwe Jingqi is making everybody excited – except, perhaps, her opponents – with her eye-catching performances in 2022. But her coach Paul Gorries advises that we should not get “ahead of ourselves” as his protégé prepares for the national athletics championships at Green Point Athletics Stadium in Cape Town from tomorrow until Saturday. Jingqi, 17, is in matric at TuksSport High School in Pretoria, and made the local athletics world sit up and take notice recently by breaking the SA 100m junior record three times in a day at the national championships in Potchefstroom in 11.22 seconds – an under-18 and under-20 SA record. The next day, she set a new 200m U18 mark of 23.03sec, eclipsing a 40-year-old…

I continue to be in celebratory mood with good reason. The two topics I am going to touch on both resonated with me in a very particular way. Try to join the dots as you go along. For openers, we shall loudly say a name together: Tasreeq Ferreira. From Delft. A 24-year-old student who achieved an LLB from UWC. Summa cum laude. What a boytjie. A self-confessed failure who showed no indication of what was to come even as late as Grade 10. He was living in a gang-controlled environment that made drive-by shootings and executions of attrition Mafia-style a daily event. He tried to fit in. “I failed because I wanted to (be) cool, like the older guys, I failed because I wanted to fit in.” His words during…

IN THE EARLY hours of Saturday on January 15, 2005, a devastating fire upended the lives of thousands of residents of Joe Slovo settlement, Langa. That tragedy, in which 12 000 people were left homeless and an infant died, was supposed to be the catalyst for a new approach to low-cost, government-subsidised housing. Cape Town currently has a housing waiting list that exceeds 350 000, and the N2 Gateway project was supposed to significantly dent this figure. In subsequent years the government would spend billions of rand to build housing units to replace the shacks in Joe Slovo, Boystown (Nyanga) and Delft. But despite the push to eradicate shacks, there has been resistance from many within Joe Slovo who thrive on, and profit from, the chaos brought by informal settlements.…

Russia launched its long-awaited all-out assault on east Ukraine yesterday, seizing its first town after unleashing thousands of troops in what Ukraine has described as the Battle of the Donbas, a campaign to take two provinces. Ukrainian officials insisted that their troops would withstand the new assault, which they said began overnight with massive Russian artillery and rocket barrages and attempts to advance across almost the entire stretch of the eastern front. In the first big reported success of Russia’s new assault, Ukraine said the Russians had seized Kreminna, a frontline town of 18 000 people in Luhansk, one of the two Donbas provinces. Russian forces were attacking “on all sides”, authorities were trying to evacuate civilians and it was impossible to tally the civilian dead, Luhansk regional governor Serhiy…

The problems affecting fallen English giants Manchester United and fallen South African giants Kaizer Chiefs are very similar. Both clubs have struggled to find an identity and glory for the best part of the last 10 years. Some will say that the problems are coaching-related and while this may be true to an extent, it is far from the truth totally. In the case of United, the club has struggled to find consistency since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013. In the case of Chiefs, they’ve not done so since Stuart Baxter’s first stint with them ended in 2015. Neither club has made tough calls on so-called star players. In United’s case, they have held on to players like Phil Jones and Jesse Lingard for years with the…

An enticing KwaZulu-Natal Derby takes centre stage at the weekend as an AmaZulu FC side on a ‘new coach’ bounce-back look to halt a seemingly rampant Royal AM, who are in pole position to secure a place in next season’s CAF Champions League. While Usuthu have taken gradual steps backwards in terms of achieving “the next level” this season, few would have predicted the type of season Royal AM are enjoying at the moment. A team formed a week before the resumption of the league go into the final five games in second position and on the verge of continental competition qualification; it is certainly the stuff of dreams. Royal AM owner Shawn ‘MaMkhize’ Mkhize’s expectations have no doubt been surpassed as even she could not have envisioned her side…

load shedding and its devastating and disruptive effect on people’s lives and the economy will be with the country for a long time. Eskom’s woes over the past 14 years have multiplied, with power station breakdowns the order of the day. Yesterday, Eskom said Stage 4 load shedding would continue until 5am on Friday. This after the failure of two additional generation units at the Tutuka and Majuba power stations yesterday morning, in addition to the failures of units that tripped at Tutuka, Camden, Matla and Majuba on Monday. “Eskom will continue to adjust the stage of load shedding depending on the level of breakdowns. Load shedding is implemented only as a last resort to protect the national grid. We therefore request the public to continue using electricity sparingly as…

A man accused of killing his wife appeared in the Western Cape High Court yesterday, where he admitted they had marital problems. Babsy Ntamehlo, 42, is charged with the murder of 35-year-old mother Nosicelo Tsipa, who was strangled on September 6, 2020. Ntamehlo was arrested after the body was discovered in a shallow grave, and has pleaded “not guilty” to the murder. Former police detective Bulelana Yosana testified that when he was assigned the case on September 8, he went to Tsipa’s home in Fisantekraal and found more than 10 family members gathered inside interrogating Ntamehlo about Tsipa’s whereabouts. Yosana testified that upon inspection, he noted three blood stains in the house, and when the forensic team arrived they discovered a lot more blood wiped clean from the…

How 5-year-old Linathi Solontyi was placed in the care of two people not related to her will be canvassed at the next court appearance of Rhodeshia Kampher and Sostenes Manyama, who are charged with her murder. The two appeared in the Western Cape High Court yesterday, where the matter was postponed to April 25 as the State tries to secure a Swahili interpreter to translate for Manyama, who is originally from Tanzania. The pair are facing charges of murder and child neglect or abuse with the State proposing a minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment if found guilty. For the charge of murder, the State alleged that they may have inflicted violence on the girl, which included blunt force trauma or sharp force. The State argues that the 5-year-old…

THE City and the Western Cape Government have welcomed the recent approval of the Delta Air Lines triangular route. Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC David Maynier welcomed the news that the US airlines plan to fly between Atlanta, Johannesburg and Cape Town has finally been approved by the national government, following extensive correspondence and an intergovernmental dispute process relating to how foreign operator permit applications are processed, initiated by the provincial government. Maynier said the intergovernmental dispute process is ongoing to ensure that all foreign operator permit applications are processed in accordance with existing national policy, legislation and agreements; and to ensure that all foreign operator permit applications are processed by the responsible person, which in this case is the chairperson of the International Air Services Council, with administrative support…

A 44-YEAR-OLD Soweto man was shot dead while trying to protect Eskom workers who were replacing a stolen cable that had left many parts of Pimville in the dark. The community of Pimville had been without power for a number of days. On Easter Monday community members together with members of Operation Dudula accompanied Eskom workers to the site where they worked to replace the stolen cable. They were met by the leaders of the Chicken Farm informal settlement who were unhappy about their presence. Another group came behind the residents and fired random gunshots, encircling the communing members. Kgomotso Diale was shot in the head. Diale’s brother Neo Diale said he was shot after he fell during the chaos which ensued following the first shot. “They came to fetch…

Traditionally, a socio-economic impact assessment (Seia) should assess a proposed law’s adverse effects on economic growth and the economy. Regrettably, the government’s current Seias of proposed bills fail to do that and are quite worthless. Look elsewhere for the real impact of new laws. The government requires draft bills submitted to the Cabinet for approval to be accompanied by a Seia countersigned by the Seia Unit of the Department of Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation (the Planning Department). This department’s 2015 guidelines say Seias should assess a proposed law’s potential costs, benefits and risks without dictating remedies. If a state department sponsors draft legislation to address a perceived problem, it should identify legislative options, roughly evaluate the costs and benefits of each, select one option, frame a draft law, develop a…

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara yesterday said he had appointed Tiemoko Meyliet Kone, the governor of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), as his vice-president. Kone, who has been at the BCEAO’s helm since 2011, is a “brilliant economist”, Ouattara said in a state-of-the nation address. He said that Prime Minister Patrick Achi would be reappointed as the head of a reshuffled cabinet. The government stepped down in a long-expected move last week ahead of ministerial changes expected to place the emphasis on belt-tightening. Ouattara, 80, has been in power since he won elections in 2010. His disputed victory sparked a brief but bloody civil conflict. His succession has been a key issue in the West African state, fuelling tensions that have boiled over into violence. Ouattara had…

If Jacques Nienaber stays loyal to his 2019 Rugby World Cup winners for the 2023 edition, the Springboks will have the most ever players who would turn 32 or older during next year in the squad for France. In 1995 in South Africa, there were no players who turned 32 or older in the Bok World Cup-winning group. Nick Mallett’s 1999 third-place finishers had one, Henry Honiball, while Rudolf Straeuli’s 2003 squad had three, and Jake White’s triumphant 2007 Boks in France also had three. Of course, as the conditioning improved over the years, players could withstand the rigours of Test rugby for longer, and in 2011 under Peter de Villiers, four players were in that age category – Victor Matfield, John Smit, Danie Rossouw and Butch James. That swelled…