Indholdsfortegnelse for 2022-05-26 i Cape Argus

Opposition shocked as DA pair go toe-to-toe IT was open war between two leaders of the DA while opposition parties listened in astonishment as DA speaker Masizole Mnqasela and his deputy Beverley Schäfer laid into each other over corruption allegations against Mnqasela and calls for him to step aside. Opposition leaders from the provincial legislature said they were deeply shocked at the open conflict between the two at a meeting called to explain the implications of the current situation, where the DA is fighting its own speaker. At the same time, the DA on Tuesday served speaker Masizole Mnqasela with a letter of intention to suspend him from all party activities, pending the finalisation of an investigation and/or the institution of disciplinary proceedings against him. DA spokesperson Richard Newton…

What a wonderful national education department we will have in South Africa if honest and principled people are employed as teachers, circuit managers, directors of education and heads of provincial education departments. Same for education MECs, who should be qualified teachers and the minister of education, who should have a wide experience and qualification in education. I believe it is something we, as South Africans, must work towards. It is possible. Any person who says it is not possible is not doing the South African community a service. It starts with the teacher in the classroom. The teacher who prepares thoroughly for his/her class. The teacher who inspires the students under his/her care. The teacher who goes the extra mile for the children. The heads of department at the school…

THE Stellenbosch incident of urination is not the first and won’t be the last act of abomination and inhumanity displayed within South Africa. To deny this reality would be to ignore the daily struggle for justice and equality every day on our streets. In many respects, South Africa has perhaps been lulled into a false blanket of comfortability and truth with the actual state of our nation through individual brilliance and the many triumphs particularly in the sporting arena. This past week many South Africans nationwide have felt aggrieved, angry, hurt, insulted, disgraced and mortified. To move past this moment quickly would be to disrespect the pain and the suffering experienced this week. To move past this moment quickly would be to deny the reality of old struggle scars being…

A settler-colonial apartheid state will never hold itself accountable for killing the people it must dominate and eliminate in order to exist. Israel was never going to investigate itself for its murder of Shireen Abu Akleh. Historically, a negligible 0.7% of complaints filed by Palestinians against Israeli soldiers have led to investigations. Why? Such investigations would require Israel treat its soldiers as criminal suspects, capable of human rights violations, rather than untouchable heroes whose actions are always justified and in self-defence. As Shireen’s family said: “We were expecting this from the Israeli side. That’s why we didn’t want them to participate in the investigation.” We echo her family in demanding that “the United States in particular – since she is a US citizen – and the international community open a…

POLICE are hot on the heels of jailed notorious killer ex-cop Rosemary Ndlovu’s co-accused. The co-accused has failed for more than a month to hand himself over to authorities to stand trial alongside Ndlovu on conspiracy to kill charges. Ndlovu gained notoriety during her serial murders trial last year, which culminated in her six life sentences. The allegedly on-the-run co-accused was charged with Ndlovu on one of two conspiracy to murder cases she faced. Prosecutor Riana Williams asked for postponement yesterday to give the police a chance to execute a warrant of arrest against Ndlovu’s “on the run” co-accused. Williams revealed that the warrant of arrest was obtained. Ndlovu appeared briefly in the dock yesterday with Nomsa Mudau, her co-accused in one case. Mudau is accused of conspiring with the…

Striking SA Revenue Service (Sars) employees have started voting on a R500 million salary increase offer that could see their salaries increase by between R120 and R950 a month, depending on pay grade. The taxman has received approval from the National Treasury to offer its workers R430m for a once-off payment and R70m as a salary adjustment. Salary increases across nine grades will be implemented and backdated to April 1 if Sars staff accept their employer’s offer. This amounts to a 1.39% salary increase and an 8.63% once-off payment will be paid to all employees, who are demanding a 12% salary increase across the board. According to the offer, Grade 1 A will receive an increase of R117.91 a month and Grade 1 will receive R284.69, while Grades 2…

Understanding and tackling corruption at the city scale is crucial because cities are increasingly becoming home to much of the global population. Corruption is commonly defined as the abuse of entrusted power for personal gain. According to the UN, more than two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in cities by 2050. The fastest urban growth is happening in Africa and Asia. In our Cities of Integrity project, we worked with urban planners and their respective professional bodies in South Africa and Zambia. The aim was to understand how they experience and deal with corruption in their daily practice. We also sought to imagine creative ways in which their professional community could play a role in strengthening transparency and collective accountability. Corruption in urban development can lead to dysfunctional…

The EU is considering using funds initially destined for development projects in Africa to support countries most exposed to the global food crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, EU officials and diplomats said. Millions of tons of grains are stuck in Ukraine as the ports, from where most food is usually exported, are blockaded because of Russia’s invasion. The provisional plan, which would allow the disbursement of nearly E600 million (about R10 billion) to boost support to countries most affected by the food emergency, was flagged by the EU Commission in two meetings last week, officials said. The commission said this was a possibility being discussed, but backing from all 27 EU governments was required. The EU channels development aid to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries through the…

Hanoi: Floods and other natural disasters triggered by heavy downpours have killed four people and left four others injured in northern and central Vietnam over the past few days, the country’s Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control said yesterday. Among the victims, two were dead and four injured due to landslides in the northern Tuyen Quang province, one was killed after being swept away by floods in Hoa Binh province, and one from the central Quang Ngai province was struck dead by lightning.…

The Hawks in Durban and Gauteng seized R1.5 million worth of mandrax tablets in Durban on Tuesday. Hawks spokesperson Captain Simphiwe Mhlongo said the Hawks members from Durban and Gauteng Serious Organised Crime Investigation, working together with the Explosives Unit, seized 30 000 mandrax tablets as well as firearms. Mhlongo said the seizure was made when a multidisciplinary team received information about a vehicle which allegedly contained drugs and firearms in Berea Centre, Durban. They proceeded to the property and found the vehicle parked with no one in it. “A search was conducted and police found two bags containing 30 000 mandrax tablets with a street value of approximately R1.5 million. Six firearms, one stun grenade and 106 rounds of ammunition were also found in the same vehicle,” Mhlongo said.…

RESEARCH by UCT PhD graduate Dr Gabriella Leighton and colleagues has shown that organochlorine pollutants along Cape Town’s peri-urban fringes are present in high concentrations in the body tissue of the city’s caracals (or rooikat). This has potential long-term implications for their health and survival. Focused action and better management practices are needed to help the city’s caracals survive, Leighton said in a new research paper published in The Science of the Total Environment. Organochlorine pesticides were used extensively between 1940 and 1960 as agricultural pesticides and for mosquito control in South Africa. Their use has been severely curtailed in recent years because these compounds become a permanent part of the environment with health effects on humans and wildlife. The problem is aggravated in many African countries, where illegal use…

THE opinion piece “Cut red tape and help victims” (Cape Argus, May 23) is spot on. Mainly because the flood victims should be the priority, not bureaucratic process, but also because of the huge cost of administering government procurement rules and regulations. The front page has an article on the contractor Rajah suing the City, highlighting the slowness and all the additional delays if there is an objection. We realise that the rules and regulations are an attempt to combat corruption, but surely there must be an easier way? I believe some security sections of government require their staff to undergo regular lie-detector (polygraph) tests to ensure their loyalty to the service they must perform – can't this be applied to City procurement staff; and KZN emergency fund management? A…

According to Andre de Ruyter, Eskom is under siege and is being attacked by criminals who intend to totally destroy our power system. This is treason and these criminals should be given the harshest sentence available. We are being held to ransom and so far no response from the president, as he is too weak to put his foot down and sort this out. When a state entity like Eskom gets attacked and there are no repercussions for the perpetrators, then you know our country is finished. There is only one man that will run this country properly and that is Herman Mashaba, who will not put up with these acts of terrorism, as that’s what it is. ActionSA is the only party that can save South Africa.…

Ahead of Youth Month and in the build up to Youth Day on June 16, the Cape Argus in collaboration with Double “O” would like to hear the voices of the youth about their concerns as well as hopes, dreams and aspirations for the future of South Africa through an essay writing competition. Students are invited to write an essay of between 450 and 500 words. This contest will be open to all high school students across the Cape Town metro. Also let us know your age, where you live and the name of your high school. The team at the Cape Argus will select four of the best essays, which will be published in this newspaper and on our online platform. Each one of the four winners will receive…

The spectre of the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) being forced to keep textbooks under lock and key, instead of distributing them to pupils, in a bid to satisfy bean counters, came up as a matter of concern in the legislature. The issue was raised during a briefing to the legislature’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) by the WCED, which included representatives from the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA). The briefing was about how the department will deal with its 2020/21 audit outcome findings in order to mitigate a recurrence. One of the major findings by the AGSA was about internal control deficiencies, and related to the management of textbooks. The department’s deputy director-general Leon Ely told the members of the committee that to correct the problem it had…

SINCE the news broke on Monday that Cape Town mother Shireen Essop disappeared on her way home from work, a community has pooled all its resources to ensure she returns home safely. We don’t know whether she has been abducted as the police are investigating her disappearance under a veil of secrecy. What we do know is that Essop, 32, was driving home and was on the phone with her mother when she disappeared. The area in which she is believed to have been driving is a known hot spot for crime in Cape Town, but what has caused more confusion is that her car, a Toyota, was found not far from the scene, relatively unscathed. The police’s forensics unit would have been combing the vehicle for clues, along with…

BANJUL: The Gambian government said yesterday it is willing to prosecute former dictator Yahya Jammeh for a “myriad crimes” committed by the regime during his more than 20-year rule. The Ministry of Justice said it accepted all but two of the 265 recommendations made by the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission. The former dictator is living in exile in Equatorial Guinea, which has no extradition treaty with The Gambia. Justice Minister Dawda Jallow said he would create a special prosecutor’s office and a special court inside The Gambia with the option of holding sittings elsewhere. | AFP…

OUAGADOUGOU: The dead bodies of four out of eight missing miners have been found at a zinc mine owned by Trevali Mining Corp in Burkina Faso which flooded on April 16, the government said yesterday. Rescue workers on May 17 found no survivors in a chamber in the mine, 570m below ground, where there had been hope during a search that the men might have found refuge. Relatives have continued to gather at the site in Sanguie province. The mine managers had been banned from leaving the country. | Reuters…

STELLENBOSCH FC are fast becoming victims of their own success with Kaizer Chiefs set to complete the signing of Ashley du Preez shortly. Chiefs have already secured the services of Stellies captain Zitha Kwinika for next season, and according to a SABC Sport report the two clubs have now agreed to “a straight cash deal” for Du Preez. Both Kwinika and Du Preez were an integral part of the Winelands’ club’s march to third on the DStv Premiership table this past season. Kwinika was recently named the Players’ Player of the season and Player of the Season at the club’s awards ceremony, while Du Preez walked away with the top goalscorer award for his nine goals. Equally, Stellies, who were only in their third season in the top flight, completed…

A return of Formula One to South Africa is being talked about as the sport looks to potentially return to the African continent. While it will be music to the ears of South African motor racing fanatics, South Africa still has more important issues to overcome before it can think of hosting another major sporting event. Right now, there are other viable candidates in Africa such as Morocco which F1 can consider if they wish to return to Africa. F1 is regarded as a “rich sport” for valid reasons. Not only do the vast majority of its talent come from wealthy households, but it is not affordable to attend a Grand Prix for many people. In a country with high inequality rates such as South Africa, the reality is that…

Missing Shireen Essop wasn’t hijacked because of her car. Police found Essop’s white Toyota 30 to 40 minutes after her disappearance in Browns Farm, Philippi, not far where her alleged hijackers stopped her in Weltevreden Road. It was intact and had not been stripped. The 32-year old mother of a 2-year -old boy was stopped, and the last call she made was to her mother, screaming: “They’re taking me … they’re taking me.” Then the phone went dead. The police have been unable to find the phone, after reports that it was traced to Khayelitsha. Detectives were yesterday busy interviewing the family at their house in Manenberg where Shireen, her husband and child stayed. They were told not to speak to the media, but a family member speaking on condition…

A COCKTAIL reception hosted by the City for delegates of the annual LGBTQIA+ activists gathering, currently happening at UCT, has infuriated two local queer organisations, the Triangle Project and Free Gender. The Kopano gathering, organised by the Other Foundation, is a platform that brings together LGBTQIA+ activists and allies, seeking to bring about equity for the queer community. The organisations which are against this “partnering” argued that the City continues to fail and blatantly disregard the experiences of black queer people in the metro. In a joint statement, the organisations said the convening committee’s choice to partner with the City contradicted Kopano’s commitments to break the social and political isolation of the queer community struggles. “The Cape Metro is a hot spot for hate crimes against LGBTQIA+ people in the…

The Plant Powered Show – the first of its kind to be held on the African continent – will take place this weekend at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Doors will open tomorrow at 2pm and close on Sunday at 5pm. One of the highlights of this event, which is aimed at those who wish to live and enjoy a healthier, more conscious and sustainable lifestyle, are the Masterclasses. They will be held hourly each day and will feature well-informed chefs and award-winning mixologists who will host interactive hands-on food and drink workshops. Masterclass tickets cost R145. There are 18 to choose from and ticket holders can attend as many as they like on any day as long as they also have a general admission ticket (R250). The masterclasses…

THE Creator speaks to believers via three primary sources, the Torah, Bible and Qur’an. When genuine guidance is required, the Abrahamic tradition has the answers. The main purpose of the Abrahamic faiths is to establish the worship of one Creator and to secure truth, justice etc. Praying, fasting, charity, etc, are necessary to improve character and attain proximity to the Creator. Since humans are prone to error, the Creator ratifies in scripture that mercy is central to the Creator. Why am I talking about these issues? Recently, a white Stellenbosch student urinated on a black student’s belongings. This outraged many as our racist history is in truth buried close to the surface. The outcry opined that whites remained obtuse to the humiliation and degradation experienced by blacks for centuries. It…

PRESIDENT Biden has stated that the US will assist Taiwan militarily should China resort to military force to take over Taiwan. South Korea has a new hawkish president who is on record as stating that he is prepared to launch a pre-emptive strike against North Korea. What these leaders seem to forget is that any miscalculation in the South China Seas and in the Korean Peninsula could lead to a conflict that could vaporise Asia into radioactive dust. China is deploying weapons designed to sink US aircraft carriers. A single carrier has about 7 000 sailors. A sinking of this magnitude will serve as a catalyst for World War III. North Korea under an erratic leader could attack the South with about 20 nuclear weapons, killing all the citizens of…

The City and other municipalities across the province have raised constitutional concerns and other objections to the Western Cape draft Provincial Transport Infrastructure Bill. The objections were raised during the public hearing for the bill in the legislature on Tuesday night. Mayoral committee member for urban mobility Rob Quintas said the City’s main worry about the bill was that it could potentially compromise the prerogative of the municipality to set out its developmental agenda, through the Integrated Development Plan, as provided for in the Constitution. However, he said the City was eager for intergovernmental collaboration and supported the increased effort being placed in compelling and structuring engagements, between spheres of government and organs of state, around planning infrastructure, pipelines, and budget prioritisation. He said the City wanted a further meeting…

THERE has been a multinational outbreak of monkeypox reported in several European countries, the US, Canada and Australia this month. However, no cases there are no suspected or confirmed cases of monkeypox in South Africa as of yesterday. “We don’t expect large numbers of cases, but it’s important that we remain vigilant and identify cases earlier and disrupt the chain of transmission, should the virus come to South Africa,” said the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) executive director Professor Adrian Puren. The NICD hosted another technical briefing today, where Dr Jacqueline Weyer from the Centre for Emerging, Zoonotic and Parasitic Diseases shared insights on the multinational outbreak of monkeypox. Weyer said the multinational outbreak was linked to international travel with a community-based spread. She said no fatalities have as…

IN THE years leading up to the pandemic, chronically high unemployment had already begun eroding South Africa’s economic position. Now, post-pandemic, record-high unemployment seems an impenetrable barrier to economic recovery. While the government has implemented several measures in an attempt to overcome the unemployment crisis, policymakers need to “think bigger” and be far more ambitious in expanding both public employment programmes and support for private sector job creation if these initiatives are to make a tangible difference. In reference to initiatives like the Expanded Public Works Programme and Ramaphosa’s Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme, the state should not be thinking of job creation initiatives as temporary. If they are to make any kind of lasting impact, these programmes need to become permanent elements of our approach to raising living standards and…

The murder of 19 children and two teachers at a South Texas elementary school has prompted a call to action from US President Joe Biden, who urged Americans to confront the country’s gun lobby and pressure Congress to tighten gun laws. In the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade, Salvador Ramos, 18, began his rampage on Tuesday when he shot his grandmother, then crashed his car while fleeing near Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Officers saw the gunman, clad in body armour, emerge from the crashed vehicle carrying a rifle. He then entered the building and opened fire, authorities said. All told, the teenager fatally shot at least 21 people before police apparently shot and killed him. His grandmother survived. Ramos acted alone, and his motive was unclear,…

London: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson presided over a culture of lockdown-breaking parties that featured drunken vomiting and fighting among staff, according to an inquiry yesterday that prompted renewed calls for his resignation. Johnson is among dozens of people in Downing Street who have received police fines for breaching Covid regulations since 2020. “I take full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch,” he said. The report showed photographs of Johnson toasting staff with wine, and recounted revelling into the early hours with karaoke music. | AFP…

Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Imran Khan yesterday led a convoy of thousands of supporters towards the capital Islamabad in a show of force the new government has attempted to shut down, with clashes breaking out between police and protesters. Since being removed from power through a no-confidence vote last month over his handling of the econmy, the cricket star turned politician has heaped pressure on the country’s fragile new coalition rulers by staging mass rallies. Khan had called for supporters to march towards the capital and stage a sit-in until fresh elections are called. “No obstacle can stop us, we will cross all the barriers and will reach ... Islamabad,” Khan declared from atop a truck. He made a dramatic arrival in a helicopter, touching down on a motorway clogged…

MAMELODI Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi is sitting on the fence about the Brazilians’ season after missing out on a quadruple. Sundowns’ three wise men – Mngqithi, Rulani Mokwena and Steve Komphela, – tarted life at the helm on a high note last season, winning the the club’s fourth Premiership title in a row and 11th in total. This season, the club broke the bank and bolstered their squad with local and international stalwarts such as Teboho Mokoena. With the arrival of the new blood, Sundowns were expected to return to the pinnacle of African football. But the Brazilians crashed out of the CAF Champions League quarter-finals for a second year running. To their consolation, though, Sundowns are on course to win a domestic treble after winning the MTN8 crown earlier…

ORLANDO Pirates’ dominant display against Maritzburg United in their catch-up league match on Tuesday night doesn’t guarantee a second-place finish nor the safety of coaching duo Mandla Ncikazi and Fadlu Davids. After winning the MTN8 and finishing third on the log last term, Pirates were expected to carry that momentum into the new season. But things didn’t go according to plan, with German coach Josef Zinnbauer resigning after they crashed out of the MTN8 this term. Ncikazi and Fadlu were handed the ropes as co-coaches. But they’ve failed to deliver, although they did finish as CAF Confederation Cup runners-up after losing to RS Berkane of Morocco last Friday. The 5-4 penalty shoot-out loss to Berkane after the 1-1 draw over 120 minutes stung the Sea Robbers and their faithful. But…