Indholdsfortegnelse for 2022-12-23 i Cape Argus

Hundreds of heart-broken mourners gathered to say their final goodbyes to little Marche-Lee September on Wednesday. The 7-year-old girl was laid to rest from the Judah Community Fellowship Church in Mont Blanc Street, Tafelsig, Mitchells Plain. Cape Argus sister paper the Daily Voice reported on the girl’s death from unnatural causes on Tuesday. Her grandfather, Charles September, spoke about the moments leading up to the day where he had to switch off his youngest granddaughter’s life-support machine. He found Marche-Lee when she was already blue in the face after it is understood she came into contact with poison found on the very field the old man has been voluntarily cleaning and maintaining for years. September contacted the Daily Voice to ask residents to stop illegally dumping, and also asked the…

The leader of People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) G-Force was slapped with fresh charges, this time from the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks). Moulana Moegsien Barendse, 62, from Lotus River, continues to make headlines and was arrested on Wednesday by members of the Hawks’ Crimes Against the State team. According to its spokesperson in the Western Cape, Zinzi Hani, Barendse made a brief appearance in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court and was charged with conspiracy to commit murder. “Barendse is alleged to have conspired to murder the investigating officer and the magistrate who is presiding over his two sons’ bail application. “The information was then followed up, and through an extensive investigation, the information revealed that Barendse conspired with other members of Pagad G-Force to assassinate the two officials,”…

Fresh from reclaiming the presidency of the governing ANC, President Cyril Ramaphosa has sent a festive season message to South Africa. South Africa is expected to experience its first load shedding-rampant Christmas and festive season. Currently, the country is on Stage 4 load shedding blackouts which sees people around South Africa experience at least 7 hours of load shedding per day. In his message to South Africans, Ramaphosa said: “As we reflect on the challenges and the achievements of the year that has passed, let us look to the next year with hope and determination. “Our great country will rise above adversity as it has done so many times in the past. We are a people of optimism. We love our country and wish for its success. “We are a…

Two women were shot dead and another sustained critical injuries while travelling on a bus headed to Harare from Johannesburg. Three shooters boarded the Copperbelt bus in Bosman Street in Pretoria, pretending to be passengers before launching their attack. According to police spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo, as the bus passed the Mantsole weighbridge along the N1, one of the gunmen produced a firearm and shot through the front windscreen, forcing the driver to stop. The other gunmen shot three women, instantly killing two and critically injuring the third. “All other passengers were then ordered to disembark and lie on the ground. They were thereafter robbed of their belongings, including cash, cellphones and passports. “The suspects were thereafter allegedly picked up by another motor vehicle that was apparently following the bus,”…

Jake White is expecting a forward onslaught from the Stormers, but is hoping that Kurt-Lee Arendse and the rest of a star-studded Bulls backline can ignite in tonight’s United Rugby Championship clash at Cape Town Stadium. In many respects, the north-south derby could be viewed as the Bulls backs against the Stormers forwards – which is in stark contrast to the traditional Northern Transvaal against Western Province games of yesteryear, where the Capetonians had the speed and the Pretoria outfit the grunt. Not that the current Bulls team doesn’t have some heavy hitters upfront, where loose forwards Elrigh Louw, Cyle Brink and Marco van Staden pack a huge punch, while captain Ruan Nortje and hooker Johan Grobbelaar bring the energy and athleticism. But it’s the likes of Arendse, Canan Moodie,…

Nick Kyrgios believes Novak Djokovic “needs to be playing at all costs”, and is happy that the Serb will be allowed back into Australia to compete in the opening Grand Slam of the season in Melbourne next month. Djokovic was banned from returning to Australia as a consequence of being deported earlier this year over his refusal to be vaccinated. However, that decision has been reversed, and the 21-time major champion will get the opportunity to vie for a record-extending 10th Australian Open crown in a few weeks’ time. Kyrgios was one of the most outspoken players advocating for Djokovic during his deportation debacle in January, and the Australian world No 22 feels the 35-year-old’s presence is essential at every event. “I think Novak needs to be playing at all…

SA Revenue Service (Sars) customs officers have seized what are thought to be counterfeit sneakers and sandals with an estimated value of R3 million at the Lebombo border post with Mozambique. The border post customs Detector Dog Unit (DDU) searched a truck with two trailers that was entering South Africa and on board found 5 237 pairs of various branded and possibly counterfeit shoes and sandals. The items were found loaded in the back of the truck’s trailers and handed over to the South African Customs state warehouse for further processing and engagement with the relevant brand holders for confirmation of the authenticity of the items. Sars commissioner Edward Kieswetter congratulated the customs officers and the DDU for their vigilance in preventing illicit and counterfeit goods from entering the country.…

The prestigious Table Bay Hotel at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront has been adorned with locally crafted festive décor by local artisans, illustrators, and designers just in time for the Christmas season to capture its guests. With every decorative piece telling the story of an artisan, designer, or illustrator, these were also brought to life under this year’s festive theme “I saw three ships go sailing by to Table Bay in the morning.” These decorative pieces include the works of the Embrace Collective, whose mission is to improve the quality of life for people affected by and living with HIV and Aids, by creating job opportunities through the craft of paper mâché, and women artisans at Monkeybiz who beaded reindeers of all colours. Designer Michael Methven created the gigantic hanging…

As research data from various sources points to a strong recovery and growth prospects for tourism, the tourism industry in the Western Cape in particular is predicting a busy festive season. Tourism was one of the most impacted sectors during the peak of the lockdown between 2020 and 2022. However, data from FNB points to a strong recovery and growth prospects look promising due to the much-needed growing trend of local tourism. FNB Merchant Services chief executive Thokozani Dlamini said the bank had seen an increase of 55% in turnover on its merchant services platform for the overall tourism industry coupled with a 17% year-on-year increase in transaction volumes. He said the increase in travel spend was driven largely by the increase in airline travel with total spending up from…

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has no doubt that Lionel Messi is the greatest player of all time, and his opinion would not change even if the forward had not guided Argentina to the World Cup title in Qatar, the Spaniard said. Messi scored two goals and again in the shoot-out as he led Argentina to an emotional 4-2 win on penalties over France on Sunday, with the final ending 3-3 after 120 minutes of breathtaking action. The 35-year-old, who enjoyed a trophy-laden spell under Guardiola during their time at Barcelona, also won the Golden Ball award for the best player, with supporters saying his performance had further elevated his status. “Everyone has (an) opinion, but nobody can doubt that he’s there as the greatest of all time,” Guardiola said…

Western Province captain Wayne Parnell is intent on not placing any undue pressure on the returning Zubayr Hamza in the must-win Cricket SA 1-Day Cup clash against the Rocks at Boland Park in Paarl today (1pm start). Province and the Rocks will contest a winner-takes-all final league match that will decide who will face the Lions in next week’s final at the Wanderers. With all that already on the line, Parnell does not want Hamza – who will playing his first match since serving a nine month suspension for taking a prohibited substance – to feel any extra heat. The Proteas right-handed batter last played back in March before he provided an out-of-competition sample on January 17 in Paarl, which was found to contain Furosemide, a substance specified in…

Black Italy prop Cherif Traore said he would no longer stay silent about the racism he has suffered after a club teammate gave him a rotten banana as a Christmas present. The 28-year-old, born in Guinea, said he received the item on Tuesday during a Secret Santa exchange with his Treviso teammates, a game where individuals buy presents that are then distributed anonymously among a group of people. “As well as considering the gesture offensive, the thing that hurt me the most was seeing most of my companions present laughing, as if everything was normal,” Traore, who has 16 caps for the national side, said on Instagram. “I am used to, or rather I have had to get used to, having to put on a brave face every time I…

Manager Pep Guardiola said his spell at Manchester City “will not be complete” unless he wins the Champions League with the club. Guardiola, who signed a two-year contract extension last month, has guided City to four Premier League titles, but failed to win Europe’s elite club competition with them, a runners-up finish in 2020-21 their best result. The Spaniard won the trophy twice with Barcelona, in the 2008-09 and 2010-11 seasons. “It’s not the only one, but I admit it’s the trophy we want, and my period here will not be complete if we don’t win it,” Guardiola told reporters before last night’s League Cup fourth-round clash against Liverpool. “But that’s not the only reason (I signed). I will do everything in the time we have together to win it,…

The City called on residents to be water-wise this summer and set a new maximum limit for collective water use to be no more than 850 million litres per day (MLD) – to keep the dams and reservoirs fuller for longer during prolonged stages of load-shedding, which affected water supply operations. This time last year, Cape Town’s dam levels were at 97% – now they are at 72.2%. The City said the risk for water restrictions remained low but residents were encouraged to use water wisely in case of low winter rainfall next year. Water and Sanitation Mayco member Siseko Mbandezi said: “Last summer, usage exceeded 1 000 MLD a few times during heat waves, and this took us back to the kind of usage last seen before the drought…

Load shedding is not just the switching off of electricity at the national grid, but the impact of it can be disastrous as was seen when two generators exploded outside Pick n Pay at Somerset West Mall. Tamra Veley, spokesperson for Pick n Pay, said two generators outside the store’s receiving area at the Somerset West Mall caught fire and the firefighters on scene managed to douse the blaze within an hour. Six fire-fighting appliances, including a specialised vehicle, were on scene with 25 staff, who managed to tame the fire before midnight on Wednesday. Veley said the cause of the fire was being investigated. City Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson Jermaine Carelse confirmed they had received an emergency call at about 10.30pm on Wednesday. Somerset Mall marketing manager…

Two women, both members of the ANC, died in a head-on collision on Tuesday near Mkhondo in Mpumalanga. Nkosikhona Mdlalose, Mpendulo Khumalo and Selusiwe Ntuli were in the same vehicle heading home after attending the ANC’s 55th national conference in Joburg when the accident happened. Mdlalose and Khumalo died while Ntuli sustained serious injuries. Mdlalose is the ward 12 councillor and member of the executive committee in the ANC’s Mzala Nxumalo Region in Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal. Mdlalose was also the ANC Women’s League chairperson in the region. The families were left devastated after the crash. Speaking to the Daily News yesterday, Mdlalose’s brother Vusi said he could not explain the shock and hurt the family was going through. Vusi said Mdlalose had planned to travel using public transportation to and from…

Groote Schuur Hospital CEO Dr Bhavna Patel recently graduated with a PhD from UCT, with research particularly focused on organisational leadership at the hospital she heads. Dr Patel, who will be commemorating a decade as the hospital’s CEO next year, graduated on December 15. Through her PhD research, Dr Patel looked at how the hospital’s Leadership Development Programme (LDP) among the hospital’s executive leaders better capacitated their work. Dr Patel graduated from Harold Cressy High School and thereafter pursued tertiary education at UCT for a BSc, then medicine, followed by Master’s degrees in family medicine, public health, and bioethics and health law. She then started working at the hospital as a medical manager, then as chief of operations. In 2013, she took over as the hospital’s CEO. The LDP…

Starting the 2024 Tour de France in Florence will fix an “incongruity” and celebrate Italian cycling, race director Christian Prudhomme said as he confirmed the first-ever Italian Grand Depart. The 2024 event will start with three stages in Italy and, because of the Paris Olympics, will end in Nice, the first time since 1905 that it will not reach its climax on the streets of the capital. “The Tour de France has started from all the countries bordering France,” said Prudhomme, who is in Italy until tomorrow to present the 26th Grand Depart from outside French borders, the third in a row after Copenhagen in 2022 and Bilbao in 2023. “It has even started six times from the Netherlands, which has no common border with France. But it has…

Australia all-rounder Cameron Green conceded he has not made much of an impact recently with the team playing so well, but he says he is in a “good space” and ready to play his part ahead of the Boxing Day Test against the Proteas in Melbourne. Green did not bat in the first of Australia’s two Test wins over the West Indies earlier this month, and scored just nine and five in the second match. He then hit 18 off 19 balls in the first innings of Australia’s opening Test against South Africa, and was scoreless in the second innings as the hosts wrapped up the win in just two days. He bowled only 32 overs across the three Tests, but took five catches in the field in their win…

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka has a future at the club after the defender impressed in a 2-0 League Cup win over Burnley. United took the lead when Wan-Bissaka sent a cross into the six-yard box to set up Christian Eriksen from close range, before Marcus Rashford made it 2-0. Ten Hag said Wan-Bissaka, who has struggled with injuries this season and has been linked with a move away from Old Trafford, is slowly but surely finding his feet. “... Aaron Wan-Bissaka, it is clear he has a future (here),” Ten Hag told reporters on Wednesday night. “He’s had some good years with United, but from the start of this season, he had a lot of illnesses and injuries, and so was running behind ...…