Indholdsfortegnelse for 2022-07-07 i Cape Argus

ESKOM’s generation capacity was expected to remain constrained despite the return of its full workforce after a was reached between labour unions and Eskom on Tuesday – which the power utility said would be a struggle to afford. Eskom announced an official agreement was reached between the power utility, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and Solidarity. The agreement included a 7% salary increase across the board as well as a R400 housing allowance increase and the reinstatement of previous conditions of service which related to overtime, transport, stand-by allowance and many others. NUM spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu said members were not entirely happy but they compromised – a key issue that remained unresolved…

The Elsies River community policing forum (CPF) has called on residents to actively participate in local community safety structures to assist police and law enforcement in tackling rampant crime. The call follows the killing of Clarke Estate shopkeeper Mohamed Hoosain, who was shot dead on Tuesday. Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said: “Elsies River police are investigating a case of murder following a fatal shooting incident at a supermarket in Adriaanse Road, Clark Estate, Elsies River. “Officers were dispatched to the scene and on arrival they found the deceased, a foreign national, lying in the store behind the counter. The 24-year-old deceased had sustained gunshot wounds to his body. The suspects fled the scene in an unknown direction and are yet to be arrested.” While police suspect robbery as their…

The Just Transition Framework report released recently is a major step forward in the country’s climate response and in achieving a just transition in South Africa. The Presidential Climate Commission (PCC), which was established in December 2020 as an advisory body on South Africa’s journey to a net-zero economy and climate resilient society, received the report last month. Chairperson of the PCC President Cyril Ramaphosa unanimously adopted the Just Transition Framework at its Sixth Meeting in May, after months of research and intense consultations with various social partners and communities across the country. The framework sets out the policy measures and undertakings by different social partners to minimise the social and economic impacts of the climate transition and to improve the livelihoods of those most vulnerable to climate change.…

On May15 this year, the portfolio committee on basic education published the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill for public comment. This bill seeks to amend a multitude of provisions of both the South African Schools Act and the Employment of Educators Act, most of which results in the introduction of additional red tape for school governing bodies and persons electing to educate their children by virtue of “home education”. Apart from administrative headaches, none of the proposed amendments have any mentionable effect on improving the quality of basic education. Although the “Memorandum on the Objects of the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill” states that the amendments are proposed “so as to align them with developments in the education landscape, and to ensure that systems of learning and excellence in education…

Over the past 15 years, South Africa has experienced some of the most violent and horrific strikes that have affected not only those particular businesses but also industry and citizens of the country. Readers will recall the strike at Marikana in which workers were murdered by the authorities. The last time that occurred, before Marikana, was in 1922 with miners on the Rand. A certain amount of police restraint has been exercised since then. However, industrial unrest is heating up again and we have experienced extremely destructive strikes in the industry. Sibanye Stillwater’s gold operations were brought to a standstill by unions, NUM and AMCU. During this time there was an enormous amount of destruction of the mine. Within days, the Minister of Employment and Labour should have stepped in…

WHAT truly is an original version of the South African education system, the pace of development in contrast to/with historical events? South Africa is where many African people were killed like they were not human beings, incriminated by the colour of their skin, imposed with dire poverty and straits. Here, we speak of the reality of historical events that gave birth to what is called South Africa today, a country at the southern tip of the continent of Azania, of the motherland Africa, which gave birth and became resourceful to her family. Oh, Mother Azania, she gave mineral resources in their varieties. She gave mines, farms and various strategic sectors of the economy. Contrary to what should have long been the case, Africans still languish in dire poverty and live…

The war in Ukraine may still dominate international headlines. But it’s a country far from the battlefield that has turned into a kind of crucible of the global moment. For months, Sri Lanka has been in an economic death spiral. A public debt crisis, exacerbated first by the toll of the pandemic and then the disruptions provoked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has led to shortages in food, fuel, cooking gas, medicines, cash and other essential commodities. In a UN survey, some 70% of Sri Lankan households reported cutting back on food consumption, with food price inflation running at around 57% (contrast that to roughly 10% in the US from the previous year). The country of 22 million people is more or less out of fuel and fresh shipments are…

KAMPALA: A law to regulate the harvesting and trade in human organs and tissues has been introduced in Uganda’s parliament, the health minister said, as authorities move to curb a growing illegal market in body parts such as kidneys in the country. There has been a public outcry in Uganda over the trade in organs and tissues derived from unwilling donors. Ugandan women recruited for domestic work in the Middle East are sometimes duped into taking medical procedures in which their kidneys are harvested against their will. Some hospitals, including public ones, have also been involved in the illicit trade. | Reuters…

IN the late Craven Week game between two power houses of South African rugby, Western Province and the Sharks, a battle royale ensued yesterday. Province had to pull out all the stops before emerging 29-24 in a game that went right down to the wire. The game ebb and flowed throughout, with shifts of momentum coming from both teams. WP who led 19-14 at halftime led throughout, but the Sharks never trailed by more than two scores. In the end WP outscored the visitors five tries to three and will most likely feature in the prestigious late game on Saturday. WP started off tentatively as they had to endure immense pressure from the Sharks. However once their forwards were able to go on the drive they had the opposition on…

Leonard Mzingeli has been convicted in the Western Cape High Court for the attempted murder of a woman he stabbed more than 20 times while he was raping her. Mzingeli was charged on four counts for the murder and rape of 17-year-old Amahle Quku as well as the attempted murder and rape of another woman eight months prior to his attack on Quku. Acting Judge Nolundi Nyati found him guilty on all counts after State advocate Renee Uys managed to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Mzingeli made little attempt to give any explanation for his crimes. He abandoned his bail and further chose to remain silent during the trial, opting not to testify in his own defence. The version proffered by Mzingeli through his lawyer Michael Sibueng was that…

I read an article published six months ago in Business Tech. It dealt with 19 new subjects which had been introduced into the education system over the past five years by the National Department of Basic Education (NDBE). I was excited when I read the Department of Arts and Culture recommended to NDBE that it should introduce new art subjects into the curriculum, not only to stimulate students’ interest in the arts but also for students to follow a career path. Other subjects introduced were agricultural studies, marine studies and many other new subjects. Now putting down subjects on paper is good but allowing these subjects to be introduced in schools is another thing. The problems schools in SA face are too many to mention. We do not have enough…

CAPE Town is no longer the country’s most violent city as it has been overtaken in those stakes by Nelson Mandela Bay. This is according to the latest South African Cities Network (SACN) report, which published details of the socio-economic and development challenges faced by the country’s largest metros in 2021 and analyses the state of crime and violence in nine of South Africa’s major cities. The cities under review were Cape Town, Johannesburg, eThekwini, Ekurhuleni, Tshwane, Nelson Mandela Bay, Mangaung, Buffalo City and Msunduzi. The report said five of the cities, Buffalo City, Cape Town, eThekwini, Nelson Mandela Bay and Msunduzi had a murder rate above the national average of 33.5 murders per 100 000 people, whereas four cities, Johannesburg, Mangaung, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane, had murder rates below…

The ANC in the Harry Gwala region has thrown its weight behind current Kokstad Local Municipality mayor Bheki Mtolo to become the ANC KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary. The 9th ANC KZN provincial conference is scheduled for July 14-15 in Durban. Mtolo, from the region situated in the south west of KZN, has been nominated by the leadership of the ANC to contest the position currently held by Mdumiseni Ntuli, who is also in the running. Qiniso Mnguni, ANC Harry Gwala region deputy secretary and spokesperson, said they had tasked the regional chairperson Zamo Nxumalo and the regional secretary Zenzele Msomi to engage other regions to influence them in supporting their stance on Mtolo taking the secretary’s position. “That’s the position we have at this point, but you would obviously understand that…

The South African government recently announced the public is no longer required to wear masks indoors or outdoors. This marks the beginning of several Covid-19 regulations being relaxed, an indication that for South Africa the Covid-19 pandemic is a distant nightmare. How wise this stance is remains to be seen. What cannot be ignored are the effects the pandemic had on the whole country, some groups to a greater degree than others. For South Africa, Covid-19 was a revelation of the fundamental problems the nation has been battling, and seemingly failing to address, for a long time. From old problems that had been plaguing South Africa since the formation of a democratic state, to newer issues that had been deprioritised due to a lack of awareness. No one could have…

Islamabad: At least 77 people have died in monsoon rains lashing Pakistan, the country’s climate change minister said yesterday, warning more heavier-than-usual downpours lay ahead. Most of the deaths were in the south-western province of Balochistan, where 39 people drowned or were electrocuted by downed power lines. The monsoon lasts from June to September and poorly built homes are prone to collapse in floods, which also destroy huge tracts of prime farmland. Pakistan is the eighth most vulnerable country to extreme weather. | AFP…

BANYANA Banyana showed Bafana Bafana how it’s done by beating Nigeria 2-1 in their Wafcon opener in Morocco on Monday. What is impressive is that the national women’s team beat the top ranked side in Africa even though they get a fraction of the funding and recognition that goes towards men’s football development in South Africa. By contrast, there is a gulf in class between the SA men’s national team and the top ranked sides in Africa and it is going to take a long time before this can be overcome. The top ranked men’s teams in Africa is made up of players who mainly play in Europe’s top leagues, while there are only a handful of SA men’s players who have the quality to play in one of Europe’s…

The Cape Argus has joined compassionate friends and strangers who donated food items to the parents of the three Wallacedene children who were killed in a fire on Youth Day. Rentia September, 42, and her partner Jamaldine Erasmus, 43, yesterday accepted donations from the Cape Argus ahead of the funeral service for their children Tyron, 12, Keagan, 8, and Joslyn, 4, who died in a tragic fire on June 16. September and Erasmus were not at home at the time of the incident and had gone out to work at a piece job. They had, however, left their children in the care of their eldest child, Jodee September, 16, who fortunately survived the incident, sustaining multiple burns to his body. A family friend of the couple and the chairperson of…

PATIENTS at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg received another scare early yesterday morning as the hospital nearly burnt down for the second time. Cape Argus sister paper The Star understands that patients were prepared to evacuate the hospital after the basement of the hospital caught fire. The fire only affected the parking area. Some sections of the academic hospital remained closed as repairs from the previous fire were still under way. It is estimated that the last fire caused damage of at least R1 billion. A report into the cause of the last fire has still not been released. The poor functioning of the hospital has seen patients with serious illnesses being transferred to other hospitals around Johannesburg. DA spokesperson on health, Jack Bloom, called for a proper investigation…

BEFORE Mandela Day on July 18, the Siyazana Youth Development Fund aims to break a Guinness World Record by distributing 10 001 hot dogs to underprivileged communities in Cape Town. Founder and chief volunteer, Ian Miller, said: “This will be our fifth hot dog drive since June last year. The idea is to bring some joy to the kids. “We realised since we did our first hot dog drive in Parkwood on June 16 last year, that many kids have never had a hot dog before.” He said that for the Mandela Day drive last year, the organisation distributed more than 5 000 hot dogs across the province. Communities to receive hot dogs this year include Cafda, Mitchells Plain and Parkwood. Marilyn Isaacs from MI Community Projects in Cafda said:…

WE CLOSED Youth Month on a rather sad note. Twenty-one young people lost their lives at the Enyobeni tavern in East London. Events like this remind us how at-risk our young people are, often from themselves. In this unbridled war of our times, there’s a special need to keep watch and help our young people. The outlook is not so good, however, despite the rallying cry for intensified and concerted efforts to assist them. The latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey from Statistics SA shows an increase in youth unemployment. So unstable is the situation that oscillations are evident. For instance, in the Eastern Cape, where I am based, figures from the Eastern Cape Socio-Economic Consultative Council Quarterly Labour Force Survey reveal a noted decrease to 45% in terms of the…

THE ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) expressed grave concern over the energy crisis. From last Tuesday the country had to endure Stage 6 load shedding. Eskom had blamed power cuts on a week-long wildcat strike by employees, yet on Tuesday, it and three unions signed a 7% wage agreement. The NEC held its ordinary session from July 2 to 4, focusing on issues facing the country and the world. The committee emphasised the need for immediate interventions to alleviate the plight of South Africans, as well as the pursuit of longer-term systemic interventions to ensure sustainable energy security. ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe said while it recognised the need to protect the stability of the national electricity grid through load-shedding measures, the NEC called for this to be confined to lower…

It is unsettling for a tenant who receives two separate letters of demand from two attorneys. The one letter, from the landlord’s attorney, threatens legal action should the tenant continue to withhold rentals. The other, from the attorney representing the tenants’ committee, warns the tenant of legal consequences for failing to pay rentals into the attorney’s trust account. This scenario is typical of sectional title schemes where multiple owners are absentee landlords as well as levy defaulters. Several sectional-title schemes have collapsed and many more in the inner city would cease to function. The few committed owners who have not defaulted in paying their levies are the ones who are most disadvantaged. Absentee owners who rent out their units may be solely motivated by income and profit. Their very absence…

THE war in Ukraine and ongoing lockdowns in Asia continue to send significant ripples throughout the global supply chain network. With predicted shortages in basic commodities such as cooking oil, flour and fuel, South Africans are already feeling the impact through rising prices. Fuel price hikes are putting further strain on our post-pandemic recovery and government interventions such as the Sassa grant. Economic conditions are only getting worse, highlighting a serious need to help our communities find ways to cope in times of distress. Failure to do so can only spark further civil unrest, as the July 2021 riots showed. Only by establishing critical community-based skills development programmes and taking drastic measures to help the most vulnerable South Africans can we hope to build self-sufficient communities that can find solutions…

POLICE Minister Bheki Cele never ceases to amaze. We are now convinced he suffers from foot and mouth disease. The diatribe and bile he spewed in Gugulethu this week was uncalled for. With his verbal diarrhoea, he became the problem rather than a solution. As police minister, a custodian of our safety and security, we are now more afraid of him than the marauding criminals freely roaming our streets. The issues raised by the white Capetonian in the audience could have been handled differently, with professionalism and etiquette expected of a minister. Our minister, instead, stooped and descended to the belly and bowels of a cesspit. The political and Struggle rhetoric and credentials we often hear from him and his colleagues in the ANC are now tired, boring, monotonous, and…

Geneva: The World Health Organization will reconvene its monkeypox experts to decide if the worsening outbreak now constitutes a global public health emergency, its chief said yesterday. UN health agency director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he would hold a second meeting of the emergency committee on monkeypox, with more than 6 000 cases now confirmed in 58 countries. A surge in monkeypox infections has been reported since early May outside the West and Central African countries where the disease has long been endemic. | AFP…

VETERAN defender Marc van Heerden is hoping to bring silverware to new club Cape Town City this coming season. The 34-year-old joined City after being released by neighbours Stellenbosch FC at the end of last season. Van Heerden will bring a great deal of experience to the Citizens, having played for Soweto giants Orlando Pirates, Amazulu FC and Chippa United after starting his professional career at Pretoria University in 2005. Although City have an impressive defensive core of Bafana Bafana centre back Taariq Fielies, Congolese international Nathan Fasika and Keanu Cupido, coach Eric Tinkler will value Van Heerden’s addition – he will add depth within the squad as the Citizens will compete in the CAF Champions League for the first time this season. “The difficulties that we face this coming…