Indholdsfortegnelse for 2022-09-14 i Cape Argus

With e-commerce adoption accelerated by three to five years as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and online retail in South Africa in 2020 growing by 66%, small to medium enterprises (SMEs) have found themselves getting online out of necessity. Doing business in today’s economic climate means businesses need an online presence. Your online strategy is part of your overall success plan. An effective online strategy can help create brand awareness, boost leads and sales, advertise services, products, or a good cause, promote credibility, engage your audience, and conduct market research. To help entrepreneurs iron out the creases in their online presence, Peach Payments’ Head of SME Growth and Marketing, Joshua Shimkin, highlights six mistakes SMEs tend to make online, and how to solve them. 1.…

THE Sekunjalo Group of Companies’ (Sekunjalo) bank accounts at Nedbank will remain open after the Western Cape High Court reserved judgment in Nedbank’s appeal against the interim interdict granted to Sekunjalo in June preventing the bank from closing its bank accounts. Reserving judgment in the matter, Judge Mokgoatji Dolamo said that because the issues raised in arguments by both sides were weighty and would require in-depth scrutiny, it would probably take about “a week or two” before he could return a ruling. “Parties will be aware that this matter will call for an in-depth interrogation of the matters raised. It is not your run-of-the-mill kind of application.” Nedbank had sought leave to appeal the judgment passed in June by Judge Dolamo and had argued that the matter was appealable and…

Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has outlined plans to put more surveillance and accountability tools in the hands of the metro police. He was giving the opening address at Africa Tech Week, a two-day conference for tech business delegates covering topics from basic service delivery to cloud technology. He spoke about the City’s efforts towards ensuring energy security and promoting a globally competitive business environment. He used the opportunity to showcase future projects aimed at increasing safety and police efficacy through technology. Hill-Lewis made the ambitious claim that the Cape Town Metro Police would be the first law enforcement agency in the country to have body cameras for all its officers by the end of the year. He also plans to have dashboard cameras installed on all department vehicles. Aside…

INSTEAD of a party, 19-year-old Giovanni Papier from Lavender Hill is planning to do something a little bit different for his 20th birthday on September 19. He will be making a special Sunday lunch and treats for about 50 people at two old-age homes in Lavender Hill. Papier volunteers at the Philisa Abafazi Bethu (PAB) family centre, where his love for community work came from, but he said it was on Mandela Day when he spent time lending a hand at the Village Care Centre, an old age home, that he realised how under-resourced these facilities were. This sparked a desire to do something sincere for the elderly in his community and thus, he began planning this special birthday initiative to make a Sunday lunch to show some love to…

EIGHT southern African country representatives have converged on Cape Town for a week-long meeting to enhance emergency responses and preparedness for communicable diseases. Recognising population movement and the impact it has on the spread of communicable diseases, a “Strengthening Cross-border Collaboration and Information-Sharing regional meeting” is taking place from September 12 to 16 at Le Franschhoek Hotel and Spa, Cape Town, facilitated by the Health Systems Trust. Countries participating are Botswana, eSwatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, and will include government representatives from health ministries, national public health institutes, immigration, veterinary and animal services, the Consul General of the US in Cape Town, Southern African Development Community (SADC) representatives, and the World Health Organisation. Health Systems Trust communication engagement lead Lunga Memela said participating countries and key…

THE passenger rail system in Cape Town is in crisis. What was once the backbone of the transport system, carrying over 600 000 passengers a day, is now transporting a small fraction of this number, estimated to be fewer than 50 000 passengers a day. Today, passengers avoid using rail because it has become so unreliable. The service will be operating one day and absent the next. Passengers simply cannot depend on rail. While the system was already in crisis prior to the Covid-19 lockdown, the situation deteriorated further during this period, with rampant vandalism and theft of rail assets, including the unprecedented stripping of stations. This left the rail service in its worst state to date. While we commend Prasa for restoring some of these services, including the recent…

Look, 2022 hasn’t been the greatest of years for Wayde van Niekerk, but as they say, form is temporary and class is permanent. And the former Olympic gold medallist showcased all his qualities as he pulled off a sensational victory over Grenada’s fellow ex-Olympic and world champion Kirani James at the Gala dei Castelli meeting in Bellinzona, Switzerland on Monday night. Van Niekerk, 30, missed out on a medal at the world championships in Eugene, Oregon in July, where despite a strong start, he finished fifth in 44.97 seconds. American Michael Norman claimed the gold medal in 44.29, with James second in 44.48 and Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith third with 44.66. But Van Niekerk has been making pleasing progress following years of injury issues, and bounced back last week in the…

“I consider ‘experience’ experience,” the villain from the Avengers movies Loki said minutes before he was killed in the penultimate film in that billion-dollar franchise series. It was a sentiment shared by outgoing Proteas coach Mark Boucher following the team’s disappointing Test series loss to England earlier this week. “This is not an academy of learning, this is Test cricket,” Boucher said as he explained South Africa’s batting woes, which cost them the opportunity of winning their first Test series against England in 10 years. The coach pointed to how technical flaws were exposed and exploited by England’s bowlers, how unfamiliar conditions were for the Proteas batters – the majority of whom were playing in England for the first time. “The only way you get experience is to actually go…

The International Trade Commission of South Africa (ITAC) has imposed provisional 38.3 percent anti-dumping duties on car, passenger, truck and bus tyres, with effect from September 9, 2022. These will remain in place until March 8, 2023. These duties, levied on top of the 25 percent to 30 percent duties already in place, will drive up tyre prices by around 23 percent and, given the importance of tyre costs to the transport industry, will manifest in higher taxi fares and trucking transport costs. Local tyre manufacturers Continental, Bridgestone, Goodyear and Sumitomo (the makers of Dunlop) – collectively known as the South African Tyre Manufacturers’ Conference (SATMC) – applied to ITAC for the imposition of substantial additional duties on passenger, taxi, bus and truck vehicle tyres imported from China. According to…

Patriotic Alliance (PA) deputy president Kenny Kunene has continued calling EFF leader Julius Malema a cockroach, adding that Malema has low self-esteem. But Kunene denies that his comment amounts to hate speech. Malema is demanding compensation of R1 million from Kunene. The cockroach comment matter between Malema and Kunene was back at the Equality Court in Johannesburg yesterday. In court papers, Malema argues that during a television interview last year, Kunene described him as a cockroach, meaning that Kunene thinks that he deserved subhuman treatment. A handful of PA supporters were seen wearing their green regalia singing and chanting Struggle songs in support of one of its leaders. However, not many EFF supporters were seen outside court, which is unusual. The red beret brigade is known for supporting each…

Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka has challenged those who “claimed entitlement” to the Phala Phala farm theft report and said responses to PPSA questions have never been publicised before the conclusion of investigations. Faced with public pressure to release the report into the list of 31 questions drafted by Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, pressing President Cyril Ramaphosa to respond to the alleged crimes at the Phala Phala farm, Gcaleka said she was treated unfairly compared with her predecessors. Gcaleka’s office was responding yesterday to questions sent by Cape Argus’ sister paper Daily News probing why her office appeared to be dragging its feet in releasing the report. Last week, the EFF accused Gcaleka of “unlawful and irrational delays” in releasing her report as prescribed in the Public Protector Act, which…

WITH Tourism Month under way, MEC Anton Bredell is encouraging the public to check out the contribution CapeNature reserves are making towards eco-tourism and conservation, particularly of the endangered African Penguin. Bredell heads Western Cape Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning. This was during his visit to CapeNature’s Stony Point Nature Reserve yesterday, home to a colony of endangered African Penguins which are experiencing an extreme decline in population. CapeNature briefed him on their conservation work with this colony in the historic Waaygat Whaling Station, which landed up to 300 whales a year in the early 1900s. “In the past, nature was exploited for economic gain through whaling at Waaygat. Today, we are supporting our economy by protecting wildlife at the same site. September is recognised as Tourism Month,…

Kaizer Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane has received plenty of criticism for his team’s mixed performances this season That’s why it is perhaps time he makes bold decisions by dropping players who are not performing, and replacing them with these five players, starting with Saturday’s Premiership clash against SuperSport United at FNB Stadium ... Edmilson Dove (defender) Dove is one of the most experienced players, having played for Cape Town City, while he is the captain of the Mozambican national team. The 28-year-old is a versatile defender as well. He can play at left centre-back and left-back – two positions that Zwane needs to fix. Most of the goals that Chiefs have conceded this season have come from defensive mistakes, including the recent goal against Marumo Gallants. Dove will not only…

Charles Fourie’s critically acclaimed play The Parrot Woman is back at the Market Theatre after its premiere over three decades ago. The thought-provoking theatre production is set against the backdrop of the Anglo-Boer war, and stars award-winning stage and television performers Gontse Ntshegang (Christina) and Andre Lotter (Venter). In the new version of the play, a woman of African descent is found on a farm with the dead bodies of a white farmer, his wife and children. The British soldier who guards her reveals a painful and touching truth about this mysterious and apparently mad woman’s relationship with the farmer, his wife and children. Speaking to IOL Entertainment, Fourie said he adapted The Parrot Woman to bring to life a part of history which was seldom told, that many black…

Parliament’s inquiry into suspended Public Protector advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office yesterday witnessed a heated clash between Mkhwebane’s lawyer Dali Mpofu and committee chairperson Qubudile Dyantyi over the postponement of the hearings. The clash, which cut short the day’s proceedings, was as a result of Dyantyi’s refusal to grant Mpofu’s wish for a postponement of the hearings until after Mkhwebane’s urgent application in the Western Cape High Court. The application is for an immediate enforcement of the court’s order setting aside her suspension by President Cyril Ramaphosa and Mpofu wanted time to prepare for the case which had initially been set for yesterday. The matter was postponed to Friday after the DA and Ramaphosa’s lawyers separately appealed against the judgment to the Constitutional Court. In effect, the appeals…

A University of the Western Cape (UWC) computer science Master’s student is using Twitter data to develop an app for mapping and pinpointing hijacking hotspots. It is still in the developmental stage, but Strand resident, Taahir Patel, 23, is hopeful that the information shared via the app will assist in reducing the number of hijackings and attempted hijackings on South African roads. “This idea goes all the way back to my first year at university. We had to think of a new type of application and statistics show hijackings are only getting worse. “I was hoping that by means of my research, I would one day be successful in identifying these hotspots and hopefully make this information usable to the general public,” Patel said. The initial idea had been of…

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber says his team effectively played a Rugby Championship “quarter-final” against Australia in Sydney two weeks ago, and face a “semi-final” against Argentina in Buenos Aires on Saturday before playing the Pumas again in a “final” in Durban on September 24. That is how the Boks are approaching their last games of one of the tightest ever Rugby Championships, and if they win these “knockout” games, they will not only have a very good chance of winning the title – it won’t be guaranteed because New Zealand are one point ahead on the log with two games to go as well – but the Boks will also have had a dress rehearsal of sorts ahead of next year’s World Cup. “We are treating our two games against…

There was a time when Australia and New Zealand’s battle for the Bledisloe Cup was almost a de facto world championship, but nearly two decades of All Blacks dominance has drained the trophy of much of its prestige. The series’ relevance will again be tested as Ian Foster’s team look to seal the trophy for a 20th straight year by beating the Wallabies in Melbourne tomorrow (11.45am kick-off SA time). The All Blacks’ stranglehold has long pained Australian fans who pine for the days when the world-beating Wallabies won five Bledisloes in succession from 1998-2002. The Cup has since come to symbolise Australia’s decline as much as New Zealand’s strength. The narrative has changed slightly this year, but not for any Australian improvement. Dave Rennie’s Wallabies slumped to a record…