Indholdsfortegnelse for 2023-01-17 i Cape Argus

This year I’ve made it a mission to expand my playlist by exploring artists who are on the rise, aiming to break into the cut-throat industry. These gems may not be newcomers to the industry, but have been working, releasing music and gaining a handful of supporters along the way. • Record producer AirDee aka AirDee Global/AirDee Mosotho (born Mohlomi Edward Ramolula), is steadily making a name for himself. He has worked with top artists such as DJ Vigilante, Yanga Chief, Cassper Nyovest, Kid X, Kwesta and Touchline. This has shaped AirDee’s view of the whole music industry. “It has taught me to always think out of the box creatively, and made me realise that music is a universal language.” AirDee, from the Free State, has had some notable…

The Langa community is rallying behind the two murder-accused members of the Langa Safety Patrol who recently appeared in the Bishop Lavis Magistrate’s Court. An early evening community meeting on Sunday led to a demonstration in front of the local police station where the residents demanded action on a memorandum they submitted in 2021. The Langa Safety Patrol is known for arresting suspected criminals in the area and parading them on social media. The patrol also won the Team of the Year award in the group’s award category from the City in 2021 for “outstanding achievement” in safeguarding its members and property. The LSP members allegedly assaulted a man on January 3 at the local cemetery after a theft complaint from a Langa resident. The victim later died in the…

It’s been a hectic start to the new year in terms of those living on the streets of Cape Town. And it all boils down to one thing: Every action has an equal but opposite reaction and my advice to the City of Cape Town (both its political as well as its administrative heads), especially those working in social development, is: Please think things through carefully before you act. Cape Town, its residents, its political leaders, its service providers and especially those living on the streets are all paying the price of the mistakes and errors in judgement made by a handful of people with regards to Strandfontein. Did you know that besides being the single biggest donor of tents to those living on the streets, the City itself is…

Saber Ahmed Jazbhay, writing in this column, tells of how the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) supported the ANC’s freedom Struggle. Indeed, and still does under its current guise, the Palestinian Authority (PA), whose president recently celebrated his 19th year as president of a people who voted him in for only a 4-year term, and has yet to hold an (even manipulated) election in all that time. With mention of South Africa being a constitutional democracy needing to play a “meaningful role in moderating behaviour of states that abuse human rights”, we ask the writer if exceeding a 4-year mandate as president by 19 years, is not an abuse of human rights and democracy? Well, everyone is entitled to his own opinion, especially when applying double standards. Jazbhay then urges South…

Nepali rescue workers scoured a debris-strewn ravine yesterday for more bodies from the mangled wreckage of a plane with 72 people on board, with hopes of any survivors now “nil”, according to officials. The Yeti Airlines ATR 72 plummeted into the steep gorge, smashed into pieces and burst into flames as it approached the central city of Pokhara on Sunday morning, in Nepal’s worst aviation disaster since 1992. The cause was not yet known but a video on social media – verified by AFP partner ESN – showed the twin- propeller aircraft banking suddenly and sharply to the left as it approached Pokhara airport. A loud explosion followed. Nepal, which has a poor record on air safety, observed a day of mourning yesterday for the victims. Soldiers used ropes and…

Phnom Penh: Cambodia has cleared roughly 2 554 square km of landmine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) contaminated land in the last 30 years, benefiting more than 9 million people. Ly Thuch, first vice-president of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA), said: “From 1992 to 2022, over 1.15 million anti-personnel mines, more than 26 135 anti-tank mines, and 3 million explosive remnants of war were destroyed. The lands have been returned to communities for agriculture and resettlement.” From 1979 to 2022, landmine and ERW explosions killed 19 818 and maimed 45 187 others. | IANS…

The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) has established itself as an integral part of modern football and has become a support tool for officials to make informed decisions. The Premier League in England, the world’s most popular league, first rolled out VAR in 2019 and since then many of the world’s major leagues and competitions have followed suit. VAR is presently in use in Algeria, where the African Nations Championship (CHAN) is in progress. VAR helps to show if a player is offside at the time a goal is scored. The replay on VAR can also establish whether a penalty should be awarded or not. A replay can also show whether the ball has crossed the goalline or byline. The DStv Premiership is one of the richest leagues in Africa and…

ESKOM called off yesterday afternoon’s media briefing where outgoing Eskom CEO André de Ruyter and his management team were expected to provide an update on current system challenges. Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said the postponement was due to emergency engagements with President Cyril Ramaphosa and that the details of the briefing could only be confirmed once meetings with the president concluded. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the president would engage in more briefing sessions with key stakeholders during this week after his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos was cancelled on Sunday. In a statement yesterday, Eskom announced that the country could expect Stage 4 load shedding from 5am to 4pm and Stage 5 load shedding from 4pm to 5am daily. This was a slight reduction from…

A KHAYELITSHA community leader and former councillor, Ryder Mkutswana, and small business owners in the township have come together to ensure that a family of three who lost their lives in a shack fire more than three weeks ago will get a dignified burial. Wendy Matiwane, her partner Lizo Ntaba and their son Imolathile Matiwane died in a fire at the “Level 2” informal settlement on December 26, 2022. Matiwane’s older children, who are still underaged, appealed for donations on social media to help bury their mother, her boyfriend and their youngest sibling. Having heard of the appeal, Mkutswana approached business owners around the area to come to the family’s aid. In preparation for the funeral, which will take place today, Mpumzi Mange donated R15 000 on behalf of…

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa will not be forced to appear before the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg next week after his application to block the private prosecution instituted by former president Jacob Zuma was granted by a full Bench of judges. Zuma wanted his successor prosecuted, accusing him of being an “accessory after the fact” after advocate Billy Downer, SC, and journalist Karyn Maughan allegedly leaked Zuma’s confidential medical information during his arms deal trial. Last week, Ramaphosa applied to the court to grant him an interdict that would prevent him from appearing in the court on Thursday after receiving a summons from Zuma last year. The court, presided over by a full Bench comprising Gauteng Deputy Judge President Roland Sutherland, Judge Edwin Molahlehi and Judge Marcus Senyatsi, found yesterday…

No, it’s not a premature April Fool’s joke that Nersa has granted Eskom permission for a tariff hike of 18.65%, and a further increase of 12.74% next year. Load shedding is costing SA billions per day, and businesses are being forced to shut down due to lack of power. Unemployment is at a horrendous level of 27.9% among workers aged 35 to 44, and the ability for ordinary South Africans to put food on the table is already a challenge. How will we cope? During the dark years of apartheid, it was the school-going youth of South Africa that took to the streets during the 1976 unrest. Their protest action further ignited the road to democracy. Will this kind of mobilisation be the only alternative to the hackneyed promises made…

Very soon the matric results will be released. For the class of 2022, the matric year was more complicated as learners encountered unexpected hurdles as a result of the pandemic and its effects since Grade 10. Due to the uniqueness of the Covid-19 hurdles, learners had to navigate these unmapped waters with no “GPS navigation apps” to follow. Hence, both learners and teachers had to “build the plane as they were flying”. Teachers had to take risks, come up with innovative ideas to complete the curriculum and to keep students motivated in order to prepare the class of 2022 for the matric examination. Most definitely, the class of 2022 endured high measures of stress, loneliness and uncertainties. Some of the disappointments and challenges of the past three years may still…

Members of the police and the special task force have launched a search party to hunt for an eight-year-old female tiger that escaped from a private farm enclosure in Walkerville, Gauteng, on Friday. The tiger, known as Sheba, is reported to have mauled a 39-year-old man and killed two dogs and one pig after it escaped. It is reported that the tiger escaped after the fence holding the enclosure was cut open by unknown people. Greshem Mandy from the De Deur Community Policing Forum, said a search team, which includes a specialised task force, had been dispatched to the scene to try to locate the tiger. Mandy urged members of the public to not approach the animal. “At the moment, we have a lot of teams on the ground who…

On quieT nights across large swaths of the African bush, you may hear a series of whooping calls in the distance. This is the long-distance vocalisation used by spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) to communicate with each other. For hyenas, it’s advantageous to know who is calling before deciding to respond. They don’t treat every member of their group the same – and the caller could even be an intruder in their territory. In animal societies, identity signals are common. They mediate interactions within groups and allow individuals to discriminate group-mates from out-group competitors. However, individual recognition becomes increasingly challenging as group size increases and as signals must be transmitted over greater distances. We hypothesised that for hyenas, long-distance calls could be used to determine the individual identity and the group…

Kinshasa: The Islamic State (Isis) terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the deadly explosion at a church in the north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rita Katz, director of Site Intelligence Group, said. On Sunday , media reported several people were injured in an explosion at a Protestant church in the town of Kasindi, near the Uganda border. “Isis Central Africa Province claims deadly blast at church in Kasindi, a town in DRC. Isis claims fighters planted and detonated an IED, resulting in ‘dozens of Christians killed and wounded’,” Katz said on Twitter. | Sputnik…

OSLO: A Norwegian naval officer yesterday denied negligence leading up to the 2018 collision between a warship he commanded and an oil tanker in which the military vessel sank. The early morning crash between the Helge Ingstad and the fully loaded Sola TS crude carrier near a major North Sea oil export terminal also triggered shutdowns of parts of Norway’s petroleum production. There was no leak from the oil tanker. The defendant was the officer in charge on the bridge of the Ingstad at the time. Members of the 137-strong crew suffered minor injuries. | Reuters…

A GUGULETHU family is still battling to come to terms with the murder of three people, including a family member, by gunmen who stormed their home and opened fire on Saturday night. Lonwabo Limekhaya was inside the house with his friends when the shooters burst through the doors, emptied their guns on them and fled. The victims had earlier attended a traditional Xhosa ceremony, umgidi, (a few houses away) to welcome back an initiate who had undergone the month-long rite of passage into manhood. Limekhaya’s distraught sister, Khuthala, said she was still at the celebrations when she heard the sound of gunfire, but dismissed it as fire crackers. This, she said, was despite her friend’s insistence that they were gunshots. “My friends immediately realised that the shots were coming from…

TO many, a professionally done haircut is a mere regular grooming exercise, but to the hundreds of underprivileged schoolboys on the Cape Flats, it has become one of the reasons they can’t wait for schools to reopen. As the schools reopen tomorrow and with the stress that comes with costs associated with stationery and uniforms, the Cape Coloured Congress (CCC) has offered relief for parents by giving free back-to-school haircuts for boys. A haircut on the Cape Flats costs between R40 and R60 depending on the area, however, to many households this means an added burden on their daily expenses. From Manenberg, Hout Bay, Lansdowne and Steenberg to Vredenburg, the initiative saw long queues of boys awaiting their turn for a free haircut. The initiative started in Steenberg, Hout Bay…

It was a great honour for all of us that the ANC is celebrating 111 years of existence. I lived in exile with the ANC. It has also produced great leaders like Nkosi Albert Luthuli (the first African to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize), Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo and John Dube. They have since 1994 done their best to eradicate poverty and suffering inflicted on the people of colour by the apartheid regime and its allies. I was in Durban during the recent December holidays. To my surprise all the restaurants and beaches were full of people of colour. The ANC has done a tremendous job in eradicating poverty and illiteracy. When I was young and lived in Illovo Sugar Estate in Illovo, KZN, I used to see our…

A journalist with any regard for ethics and integrity will find the recent Netflix series, Harry & Meghan, uncomfortable to watch. The documentary, as well as Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, which was released last week, makes disturbing revelations about the media’s treatment of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The British tabloids, in particular, are criticised for their relentless harassment and intrusion into the private lives of the couple. And their reporting “narrative” has been described as malicious, racist and sexist against Meghan, and, often, patently false. As Harry reveals, it was the paparazzi’s pursuit of his mother, Diana, which many believed played a part in her death in a car crash in Paris in 1997, that shaped his disdain for the press, and would ultimately influence his decision to…

Canberra: The Australian state of Queensland’s central and northern regions are facing days of severe weather emergency, with some primary transport corridors being cut off at tourist spots. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology warned yesterday that intense rainfall may lead to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding in parts of the central Queensland coast and the northeast tourist attraction Whitsundays, where the Great Barrier Reef’s famed Heart Reef is. All inbound flights have been cancelled and major roads cut off. Daily rainfall totals of 200mm and up to 400mm is possible. | IANS…

Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Cole Alexander says they are yearning for consistency given the lofty resources that have been put in place to support the team. Chiefs have world-class facilities and the best personnel money can buy. But Amakhosi have failed to put management’s investment to good use and are on an unprecedented seven-year trophy-less streak. This season they were expected to do better, though, considering the host of new signings they made and the promotion of Arthur Zwane as their new coach. “Every coach has his own qualities, and there’s always something to learn. I can see that with Zwane. He brings something very different,” Alexander said. “The guys carry it. We know what he wants and if it works, we’ll look great. “We just need to be consistent. With…