Indholdsfortegnelse for 2022-12-07 i Cape Argus

One of the world’s favourite fairy tales, Jack and the Beanstalk, is bringing the magic of Christmas to Durban’s Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre from tonight to January 15. Jack and the Beanstalk follows the tale of a young man, Jack, who lives with his mother Dame Flora Flatbroke, in a small cottage, in the country. Destitute, Jack trades the family cow for a handful of magic beans, which grow into a towering beanstalk reaching up into the clouds. Jack climbs the beanstalk and finds himself in the castle of an unfriendly giant. The giant senses Jack’s presence and of course cries, “Fee-fi-fo-fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman. Be he alive, or be he dead, I’ll grind his bones to make my bread.” Outwitting the giant, Jack can retrieve many…

The SPCA in Bloemfontein said a decision was taken to put down the pit bulls that were brought in. In a statement posted on Monday afternoon, the organisation said these dogs had all lived horrible lives. “The emotional scars were visible in their eyes. They were not living in gardens running free, having naps on couches. They were exposed to the elements of nature, poorly fed and left to breed and inbreed. “There was no telling how they would eventually react if homed irresponsibly. We would most probably have another tragedy to deal with, and more dogs violently killed. “The dogs were admitted and taking their history into account, and after consulting with professionals, it was determined that there are fates worse than dignified euthanasia.” Almost five people in South…

The African Transformation Movement (ATM) has criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to take the Section 89 report into the Phala Phala dollar scandal to the Constitutional Court for review. The president wasted no time in rushing to the Constitutional Court to challenge the report. It has come as a surprise to some that Ramaphosa went straight to the Constitutional Court, skipping the lower courts. In a statement, the ATM said it saw this move as an attack on Parliament’s oversight role. The party’s president, Vuyo Zungula, said the move was a clear indication that Ramaphosa was trying to tip the scales of justice to his side. “For us, as the ATM, the issue of the president going to court is just an issue of him being dishonest because he has…

Members of various ANC branches across Cape Town and the Western Cape protested at the gates of Parliament yesterday, calling for President Cyril Ramaphosa to step down over the Phala Phala report. Dressed in party colours, singing Struggle songs and waving signs with messages such as “All presidents are equal”, and “Phala Phala dollars will destroy the ANC”, the protesters said they wanted the voices of the party’s rank and file to be heard. One of those at the picket, uMkhonto we Sizwe veteran Faizel Moosa, said the message to Ramaphosa was coming from ordinary party members, as opposed to members of the National Executive Committee or other leadership. He said in all the recent talk about the issues surrounding the president, the voices of ordinary party members had been…

As the volume of plastic pollution reached crisis levels, stakeholders in South Africa’s environmental space reflected on the first round of negotiations to establish an internationally legally-binding agreement to end the pollution. This could result in countries banning and phasing out the most problematic plastic. The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) met in Punta del Este, Uruguay last week, when Representatives from more than 140 countries took part in the first of five sessions the INC will be hosting to establish a final and global plastics treaty by the end of 2024. Earlier this year, Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Barbara Creecy said the country supported the INC’s mandate under the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), and would stress the need for new, additional and predictable finance for its implementation in…

About 300 members of the navy bid farewell to vice-Admiral Mosiwa Hlongwane as he officially retired after serving eight years as chief of the SA Navy. A “change of command” parade was held in Simon’s Town to hand over the navy to the incoming chief, Vice-Admiral Monde Lobese. Lebose, from New Brighton in Gqeberha, held various appointments both at sea and on shore. Hlongwane was born on July 6, 1962 in Frankfort, Free State, but grew up in Vaal Triangle in Bophelong township in Vanderbijl Park. Both have received numerous awards for outstanding service in the navy but Lebose inherits a huge challenge to get navy ships and submarines back at sea as the entity struggles, through limited budget constraints, to properly patrol South Africa’s waters. Hlongwane said…

It was a strenuous journey for the Stormers to reach Clermont, as they travelled from Cape Town to Istanbul and Lyon before finally arriving in the central French city yesterday afternoon. So, having gone through all of that, the United Rugby Championship (URC) title winners would want to make it worth their while and show the whole of Europe just what they are made of in Saturday’s Champions Cup opener against Clermont Auvergne (5.15pm kick-off). And the fact that the temperature is likely to drop to below zero for the early evening game won’t deter the Cape side from playing their usual attacking style that was on full show in the first half of last week’s URC win over the Dragons. “We’re here safe, just got here half-an-hour ago. It’s…

Japan failed to reach the World Cup quarter-finals once again, but stunning wins over Germany and Spain and more players moving to Europe suggest the Blue Samurai will return stronger. Japan were eliminated by Croatia in the last 16 on Monday, going out on penalties after a nerve-jangling 1-1 draw with the 2018 finalists. It was the fourth time Japan had exited at the first knockout stage and denied them a much-coveted quarter-final debut in their seventh straight World Cup appearance. But the four-time Asian champions showed that they can compete with the world’s best in Qatar, beating both Germany and Spain – two former champions – to point towards brighter times ahead. Coach Hajime Moriyasu said it was not possible to “turn into Superman overnight”, but he believes Japan…

Former Western Cape legislature speaker Masizole Mnqasela says a legal kink that needed ironing out had prevented his lawyers from filing a court application challenging the DA’s termination of his membership. Speaking to the Cape Argus yesterday, Mnqasela said as soon as the issue was sorted out the matter would proceed. On Saturday December 3, Mnqasela’s attorneys wrote to the DA’s attorneys saying they had planned to launch the application by 11.30am on December 6, and proposed he would enrol the matter for “hearing in the fast lane” on Tuesday next week (December 13). The lawyer's letter was in response to one from the DA’s lawyers in which the party said it had resolved to nominate a candidate for Speaker as a result of the provincial opposition ANC’s motion which…

Local Cape Town graffiti and mural artist Nadia Fisher (aka Nardstar) has brought a bit of Cape Town to Wakanda. The artist was selected to be a part of the Marvel Artist Series and recently completed five pieces of art for exclusive merchandise for Marvel Studios’ Black Panther. ​ Nardstar is an artist on the rise, having done various international murals in New York and Paris, and local work for Converse, Woolworths and others featuring clear lines, vivid compositions and honest portraiture. The artist is behind numerous murals around Cape Town focused on celebrating women of colour, animals and local fauna and flora. The Marvel family invited Nardstar to put her unique and fresh spin on their exclusive merchandise for Marvel Studios’ Black Panther, and the work can be found…

If ever anyone was looking for a symbol of dynamite coming in small packages, they would have to look no further than Ricardo ‘Tricky Ricky’ Duarttee. The new Blitzbok star hardly touches the waistline of his teammates, but he is built like a brick outhouse, and possesses a side-step that would make even Cheslin Kolbe squirm. And it’s this explosiveness that was on show in Dubai over the weekend, when Duarttee caught the attention of the Sevens world in his debut tournament. The 24-year-old’s journey to this point has been an arduous one, though. Although born and bred in the Western Cape, where he attended Stellenberg High, Duartee had to leave his home town to pursue a career at the University of Johannesburg and the Lions initially, before selling his…

A week on from Sean Everitt, life is moving swiftly on in the Shark Tank, and prop Ox Nche says it has to when you have Harlequins in town for the Sharks’ debut in the Champions Cup, the most elite rugby competition on the planet. “Sometimes hard things have to be done in order for us to keep getting better,” the Springbok loosehead said when asked how the team was adjusting. “The mood is great and we are working harder. We want to prove we belong in the Champions Cup, and we want to put the Sharks brand on a pedestal.” Director of Rugby Neil Powell is doing what Rassie Erasmus did at the Springboks in 2018 when he stepped into the head coach role, and Nche was asked by…

Croatia captain Luka Modric said his team “can’t do it without a drama” after they reached the World Cup quarter-finals following a penalty shootout win against Japan on Monday. Mario Pasalic struck the winning spot-kick after Dominik Livakovic saved three penalties. Earlier, Ivan Perisic had pulled Croatia level in the 55th minute of normal time following Daizen Maeda’s opener for Japan just before the break. But no side could find a winner either in 90 minutes or in extra time as it finished 1-1. “It seems that we can’t do it without a drama,” said Modric, whose team were beaten finalists in 2018. “We are more than happy to reach the quarter-finals. It was a very difficult game against a very tough team.” The match in Qatar continues a pattern…

The Western Cape High Court has reversed a previous court decision regarding the payment of terminated staff following the 2019 sale of sail-boat hardware and accessories manufacturer Harken South Africa to Zenith International. Harken was owned by businessman Ankie Roux until his death in 2019. At the time of Roux’s death, Harken had had four employees: Hannes Knoetzen, Michael Batt, Lars Kessel and Michelle Barrish. In terms of his will, Roux appointed a Mr Venter, Harken’s accounting officer, as his executor. He bequeathed to each of his three daughters 30% of his membership in the plaintiff, and he left the remaining 10% to Knoetzen. The company was bought out after Roux’s death by Zenith, a company set up by Knoetzen and Batt, who negotiated the right to use the Harken…

Police Minister Bheki Cele has been urged to rethink his approach with regard to the issue of the SAPS refusing to pay the legal fees of former police officers charged with apartheid-era crimes. In an open letter to Minister Cele, Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) programmes manager Zaid Kimmie made the plea on behalf of the families of the apartheid-era victims in the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) Four and Caiphus Nyoka cases. The Cosas Four murders took place more than 40 years ago, while Caiphus Nyoka was murdered more than 35 years ago. Kimmie said the window of opportunity to bring justice to the perpetrators in these cases was fast closing, and that most of the suspects had already died and the few remaining were in their twilight…

Joburg City Power says it received more than 2 000 complaints of power outages due to the fierce hail storm on Monday afternoon. The weatherman is also warning of continued rainfall in Gauteng this week. The hail and thunderstorm caused roads in Alexandra, Randburg, Florida and Sandton to be flooded, with trees uprooted in some areas. Robert Mulaudzi, spokesperson for the Joburg Emergency Medical Services, said officials were still busy, particularly in Alexandra, which appeared to be the worst affected area. “We are still encouraging residents to report incidents to the call centre for assistance,” Mulaudzi told Talk Radio 702 yesterday. Isaac Mangena, spokesperson for Joburg City Power, said that the utility had received more than 2 000 outage complaints from residents. “We are still dealing with the backlogs…

Achraf Hakimi struck the decisive penalty to send Spain crashing out and Morocco into the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time, winning 3-0 in a shoot-out last night after a 0-0 draw. Spain coach Luis Enrique had claimed his players prepared by taking 1 000 penalties as homework, but Pablo Sarabia, Soler and Sergio Busquets all missed from the spot and Madrid-born Hakimi dinked his home to the delight of Morocco’s raucous support. Walid Regragui’s Atlas Lions are now in uncharted territory, with their previous best a last-16 exit in 1986. Spain had been hoping they could repeat their 2010 World Cup triumph after reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2020, where they were also beaten on penalties by Italy. The teams were closely matched through a nail-biting clash, with…

While the Bulls have a full-time psychologist in their organisation – and there are other support structures in South African rugby – the Sbu Nkosi situation is a “wake-up call for everybody in sport again”. That was the bigger picture Bulls CEO Edgar Rathbone spoke about yesterday following the disappearance of Nkosi, who was found at his stepfather’s house in Mpumalanga on Monday after being missing for three weeks. The last contact with the Bulls wing was on Friday, November 11, and he failed to report for training on Monday, November 14. After several visits to his living quarters in Pretoria, multiple texts and calls to Nkosi and his family, the Bulls were unable to locate him until the story broke in the media on Friday. Despite not getting the…

An irrepressible, irresistible Brazil lit up the night sky on Monday with one of the performances of the World Cup to shred South Korea 4-1 and set up a quarter-final clash with Croatia. The Brazilians brought a beach soccer swagger to the iconic Stadium 974 with a display that simply overwhelmed the Koreans, and likely struck fear into potential opponents. “We’re dreaming of the title, of course,” Brazilian talisman Neymar said. “Today was the fourth game, there are three left. We’re very focused on getting that title. “But we have to go step by step. When I got injured, I spent a very difficult night. I was thinking of a million different things.” After Japan’s penalty shootout loss to Croatia earlier, and Australia’s loss to Argentina, South Korea’s defeat means…

After starting the World Cup in the shadows, Jordan Henderson has emerged as England’s unsung hero ahead of their heavyweight quarter-final clash with France on Saturday. While England captain Harry Kane and teenage sensation Jude Bellingham are expected to deliver the headline moments against France, Henderson will provide the foundation for his more high-profile teammates to flourish at the Al Bayt Stadium. Henderson has been a divisive figure among England fans, who have often preferred to see more glamorous options in the midfield engine room. But critics of the Liverpool captain’s international form have been forced to eat their words over the last two weeks. Although Henderson was among the substitutes for England’s opening two games in Qatar, Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate has turned to the midfielder in a…