Indholdsfortegnelse for 2022-07-01 i Cape Argus

The ANC in Theewaterskloof Municipality has accused DA councillors of covering-up allegations of corruption and other wrongdoing against senior DA members and officials on the council and using local government MEC Anton Bredell’s office to fight their battles. Theewaterskloof council’s ANC whip, Raymond Nongxaza, said the ANC would lodge a formal complaint with the police about corruption at the municipality involving the previous DA-led administration. Nongxaza singled out former Mayco member and current DA constituency chairperson Martie Koegelenberg, whom he accused of overstepping her powers. The ANC and the DA are engaged in tit-for-tat allegations of corruption in Theewaterskloof Municipality, with each party accusing members of the other of corrupt activities. On Monday, Koegelenberg accused ANC Mayco members on the council of spending more than R4.3 million on VIP security.…

Under President Cyril Ramaphosa, the central core and philosophy of the ANC is quickly eroding, which – instead of uniting against poverty and being people-focused – has seen its leaders at each other’s throats every day, jostling for top (lucrative) positions which can derive them the most benefit, according to businessman Dr Iqbal Survé. In a hard-hitting interview with Independent Media, Survé, who is the chairman of Sekunjalo Investment Holdings (SIH), touched on the idea of forming a new youth-led social democratic movement for anyone interested in putting South Africa first. Survé’s statement echoes other rumblings growing ever louder from within the ANC, the party he joined in the 1980s to fight against the oppressive apartheid regime. “There are many who are going to be angry with me for breaking…

THE recent death of a patient seeking treatment at Wesfleur Day Hospital who had to wait for several hours to see a doctor was one of the reasons a community protest began outside the facility. Around 50 people gathered in front of the day hospital yesterday to protest the “poor service” at the facility. Atlantis resident Joshua Swartz said the situation at Wesfleur Hospital was bad, with long waiting periods, wrong or no medication and few to no doctors available. Swartz called for the dismissal of the hospital board. “I lost my partner of 10 years, Harriet Michaels, due to the poor service and negligence of Wesfleur Hospital. My partner was a lupus arthritis patient who I took to hospital on June 16, 2022 at 5.30am. “She was a high-risk…

SEAN Davison, the euthanasia activist and co-founder of DignitySA, recently completed a sentence of house arrest in South Africa for his role in the deaths of three people. He said he had not committed a crime or murder, but had helped these people because they were desperate to die. Anrich Burger, Justin Varian and Richard Holland were suffering unbearably, with no hope of recovery and unable to end their own lives. The late Archbishop Emeritus Desmond once wrote that he would want the option of an assisted death. Tutu argued that dying people should have the right to decide how and when they wanted to leave this life. Legislation in Canada, and a number of US states and European countries, for example, allows assisted suicide. But there are still billions…

LAGOS: Gunmen killed an unknown number of people and abducted four Chinese workers and some local employees after an attack at a mine in Niger state in north-western Nigeria, the state’s commissioner for internal security said yesterday. Emmanuel Omar said: “A yet to be ascertained number of workers in the mining site, including four Chinese nationals, were reported to have been abducted.” Niger is where gunmen are known to carry out attacks on villages. Local officials also said last year that suspected Boko Haram militants had established a presence in Shiroro. | Reuters…

Russian troops have abandoned their positions on a captured Ukrainian island, a major setback to their invasion effort that weakens their blockade of Ukraine’s ports, defence officials said yesterday. The news from the Black Sea came as Nato leaders wrapped up their summit in Madrid, intent on demonstrating their unity and determination to back up Kyiv with advanced weapons in the face of Moscow’s assault. Snake Island became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the first days of the war, when the rocky outcrop’s defenders told a Russian warship that called on them to surrender to “go f*** yourself”, an incident that spurred a defiant meme. It was also a strategic target, sitting aside shipping lanes near Ukraine’s port of Odessa. Russia had attempted to install missile and air defence…

Leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) have condemned Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan for comments at a hastily arranged press briefing earlier this week. Gordhan had claimed that Eskom had in principle reached an agreement with striking workers to return to work, after South Africa was plunged into Stage 6 load shedding – two-and-half hours of power blackouts at a time. The union bosses were angry with Gordhan, saying he had jeopardised wage talks by pre-empting an outcome and demanded that he withdraw the claim that an agreement had been reached between the utility and its striking workers. NUM general secretary William Mabapa and Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said: “We have not come to any agreement with…

The man accused of killing three people at the New Somerset Hospital in Green Point made his second appearance at the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court yesterday where the matter was postponed for further investigation. Jean-Paul Malgas, 39, has been charged with three counts of murder, one count of illegal possession of a firearm and one count of possession of ammunition. Malgas abandoned his bail application at his first appearance. Malgas was not physically present during proceedings and appeared via audio-visual receiver (AVR) from Pollsmoor Prison. The former police officer’s family, however, were present and spoke to him briefly during proceedings. His mother tried to console him. She asked him how he was doing, to which he responded: “I’m better now”. Malgas suffered from “severe depression” according to defence attorney…

THE ANC will have to fork out more than R100 million for the branded goods such as banners it ordered and received for its 2019 election campaign, but didn’t pay. The party later said the contract was invalid because of non-compliance with the requirements of its internal supply chain policy. Following the non-payment of their bill, Ezulweni Investments, which supplied the branded items to the ANC, turned to the South Gauteng High Court in Joburg to enforce the payment. The court ruled in its favour, but the ANC took the matter on appeal before three judges of this division. The party argued that the high court was wrong in rejecting the ANC’s defence to the claims based on the fact that, according to the party, the contract for the rendering…

SOWETANS should allow Eskom officials to install pre-paid meters in communities or risk being cut off from power supply this winter, Eskom said yesterday. Eskom Gauteng spokesperson Amanda Qithi said the utility’s workers were being threatened and, in some cases, beaten by residents for trying to install. Qithi said this week the community of Moletsane in Soweto was a non-paying area and Eskom had no choice but to move from conventional electricity to split metering. Cape Argus sister paper The Star understands Soweto already owed Eskom about R4 billion. The last debt Soweto had which also rose to over R1bn had been written off by the power utility. “If they don’t allow us to convert them, we will unfortunately switch off supply. We are installing split meters all over Gauteng,…

The end of the pandemic came without fanfare, without drama. No family meeting called and addressed by the president, no public celebrations, few prayers of thankfulness, and even fewer messages to applaud the courage of a nation to survive such a struggle. In families the occasion is marked merely with collecting and disposing of the many masks that litter homes. In neighbourhoods the end to this time of struggle is only marked with more guests invited to weddings and other events. Faith communities mark it simply with higher numbers of worshippers attending in person. Citizens travelling abroad mark the occasion only with brief debates on whether they should run the risk that the new arrangements will not yet hold at border customs on arrival and departure. Arguably, it is only…

To coincide with Youth Month, the Cape Argus called on youngsters to write to us and tell us about their hopes, dreams and aspirations for South Africa’s future. Four of the best essays selected would receive a tablet computer, and the winning essays would be published in the newspaper and on our online platforms. Winners will be informed in due course. Since the competition opened we have received more than 100 entries from youngsters who are aware, informed and engaged with the world around them. These are the future leaders of South Africa and our country’s success, and finding solutions to our long-standing problems, will (mostly) rest on their shoulders. To those who have written to us, we want to say thanks and call on them to continue writing, advocating…

NEARLY six years after the Street People’s Movement submitted a dossier of complaints to the SA Human Rights Commission, accusing the City, CCID, and the police of violating the rights of homeless people in the metro, the commission is yet to release its findings. This as it held an engagement with the government on the plight of the homeless community last week. The engagement followed what the commission said were several complaints lodged in recent years relating to the treatment of homeless people by law enforcement agencies. The commission said that over the past few years, it received and noted a multitude of challenges faced by the people living and sleeping on the streets in the Cape Town metro and the province at large. It said the meeting’s primary purpose…

THE revelation that there are about 7 000 land claims dating back to 1998 still outstanding should be a cause for concern for the ANC-led government. If there are areas where the ruling party has dismally failed, then the land issue is one of them. The party’s seriousness in addressing land claims has been questioned from the outset, when it agreed to a willing buyer, willing seller policy. This policy meant that landowners, mostly white people who acquired land through violent dispossession from black people of their ancestral land, would have to sell the land to the state only if they wanted to, and the state should be willing to buy. As a result of white people’s reluctance to release land, the state failed to meet its 2013 deadline, which…

GUWAHATI: At least seven people have died and another 55 are feared to have been killed after a massive landslide in a remote area of the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur, officials said yesterday. Rescue workers battled heavy rains and inclement weather to pull out 19 survivors from the rubble after the landslide occurred at a railway construction site, but said the likelihood of finding any more was thin. This month unprecedented rains have lashed India’s north-eastern states and neighbouring Bangladesh, killing more than 150 people. | Reuters…

WILLIE le Roux will be in the bombsquad.com, yo. Le Roux, a veteran of 72 Tests, has been selected on the bench for the first Test against Wales at Loftus Versfeld tomorrow (kick-off 5pm), making way for Damian Willemse to get only his fifth start for the Boks this weekend. It was arguably the biggest surprise this week when head coach Jacques Nienbaber announced his match-day 23, and Le Roux will have an important duty to fulfil as he, along with the only other back on the bench, Herschel Jantjies, will be expected to cover multiple positions. The 32-year-old, however, admitted yesterday that hewas ready for any eventuality. “I am in the bombsquad, and I do have a new role there,” said Le Roux. “We will see when I come…

Rajah’s sons thanked everyone for their support “WE FIRSTLY give thanks to God Almighty for granting us the return of a beloved father, grandfather and a friend to many. We also thank every person out there who supported us through this ordeal and who has said a prayer for his safe return.” These were the words of a son of city businessman Ismail Rajah, who spent his first day back at home yesterday after being held by kidnappers for more than three months. Four suspects were arrested on Wednesday during a midnight raid on a Khayelitsha house, where police found the 69-year-old chained to a bed and, according to information, still wearing the same clothes he had on when he was kidnapped outside his Parow business on March 9 this…

The Department of Community Safety and Police Oversight says it is working hard to repair and restore the relationship between local communities and SAPS. Since stepping into office, MEC Reagen Allen has valiantly spoken about his intentions to ensure his department directs its efforts to configure better policing services for local communities, as lack of trust in the police is at an all-time low. Allen recently reiterated his stance on fostering relations with SAPS in response to questions from Community Safety, Cultural Affairs and Sport standing committee member Ferlon Christians (ACDP). Christians questioned whether police officers were provided with training to raise their vigilance. SAPS responded through Allen by stating that the police ministry offered various courses that focused on raising vigilance, such as, among others, tactical response, the first…

SECTION27, together with three affected persons, has launched a court application for access to health-care services for all pregnant women and young children. Public interest law centre SECTION27 has launched litigation in the Johannesburg High Court to confirm access to free health care for all pregnant and lactating women and children under six years of age, including people seeking asylum, undocumented persons and persons affected by statelessness. “We are asking the court to find relevant Gauteng legislation, regulations and policies are unlawful to the extent that they fail to provide access to free health services to all pregnant women and young children who are not on medical aid, in contravention of the National Health Act,” the centre said. SECTION27 further asked for an order that the Department of Health issue…

We, the matric students in the pilot marine science course for 2022, would like to request a date change for the final exams. Marine and physical sciences can be considered as application subjects which are quite dense, content wise. These subjects have a lot of content that is not simple or easy to understand and requires students to put many hours of work into preparing for these exams. The day before any exam, students aim to revise the work for the last time, that will be required for these subjects. However, due to these subjects being written so close together and the large volume of work, we will not be able to revise accordingly. This will then cause us undue stress about these two exams which will then affect the…

The problem with the informal settlements situated on flood plains is really tragic but I am not sure how the City can avoid this problem when the residents do not listen to the warnings and just carry on building in those areas. Judy-Ann Stevens, spokesperson for the local ANC caucus in the City Council, must be lacking something or have no understanding of the problem when she says, “Informal settlements, no matter where it is started, are a direct result of the City’s inability to provide adequate housing to all those in need”. This when there is no city or country in the world, and certainly none of the ANC-controlled ones, that could supply housing for informal settlers at the rate at which they continue to arrive in the city.…

THE World Health Organization (WHO) Africa hopes to see the global spotlight on monkeypox act as a catalyst to beat the disease once and for all in Africa. WHO Africa health-care experts provided an update on monkeypox in Africa yesterday, where it was announced that the cumulative number of suspected monkeypox cases in Africa since the start of 2022 is 1 821, with 109 confirmed cases in nine countries. WHO regional director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said that while the continent was seeing cases in Ghana, South Africa and Morocco for the first time, the biggest burden was in the Democratic Republic of Conga (DRC) and Nigeria, which accounts for 92% of all suspected cases. Five of the 13 countries that reported cases of monkeypox, either confirmed or…

MANILA: Ferdinand Marcos, the son of the Philippine ruler overthrown in a popular uprising 36 years ago, was sworn in as the country’s president yesterday, promising to strive for unity and a better future, while praising his late father’s legacy. Marcos, 64, won last month’s election in a landslide, capping off his wealthy family’s decades-long quest to regain the presidency and transform its image after it was driven out in 1986. Marcos jr thanked voters for giving him “the biggest electoral mandate in the history of Philippine democracy”. Marcos jr said he would emulate his father’s achievements. | Reuters…

Paris: Astronauts lose decades’ worth of bone mass in space that many do not recover even after a year back on Earth, researchers said yesterday, warning that it could be a concern for future missions to Mars. Previous research has shown astronauts lose between 1% to 2% of bone density for every month spent in space, as the lack of gravity takes the pressure off their legs when it comes to standing and walking. The bone density lost by astronauts was equivalent to how much they would shed in several decades if they were back on Earth, researchers said. | AFP…