Indholdsfortegnelse for 2023-02-09 i Cape Argus

A few months ago, Anatii took the bold step of removing his music from all traditional digital streaming services. Shortly afterwards, he released a new single titled Punisher as a non-fungible token (NFT). NFTs have become a global phenomenon in the art space over the past few years as creators across art, fashion and entertainment seek to take control of their craft and protect their intellectual property. “Removed my solo albums from STREAMING PLATFORMS,” he shared. “It’s been good. Ndiyabulela.” Apart from launching Punisher, Anatii has been paying close attention to the creative NFT space over the years and has previously shown support for creatives like local internationally acclaimed digital artist, Lethabo Huma. “Let’s speak on people like Lethabo Huma,” he says when we speak. “Let’s highlight great creatives that…

The trial of Mikyle Davids, the alleged leader of the “Laughing Boys” who challenged former Western Cape High Court Judge President John Hlophe and lost, has appeared in the Pollsmoor Prison Court as the defence’s case started. Davids, 26, Tyrone Davids, 27, Mikyle Abdullah, 25, Shamieg Matheson, 26, Moenzier January, 49, Malieka Meyer, 35, and Moegamat Kamish, 67, are charged with 28 counts under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (Poca) and three murders between 2017 and 2019. Yesterday, Davids, bowing his head when facing the judge to answer questions posed by his lawyer, denied his involvement in the killings. Implicated in the possession of firearms, Davids denied that he even touched a gun, or that he hit Gertrude Jantjies with a brick before she was killed in 2019.…

A 13-year-old boy and his 10-year-old sister have been left orphaned after their mother, a 46-year-old woman from Covid-19 informal settlement near Mfuleni, was allegedly stabbed and killed by her boyfriend in front of them. Funeka Memani’s neighbour, Vuyisa Ncume, said he was called after 9pm on Sunday by the children, who told him their father had stabbed their mother for allegedly refusing to see his child. The boyfriend is the father of one of the children. On arriving at Memani’s yard, Ncume said he found her lying in front of the shack with blood still gushing out of a stab wound to her neck. Ncume said blood was spattered all over the inside of the shack. He said the children had told him their mother had also been stabbed…

RECENTLY, a Chinese “weather balloon” flew over the US and was shot down. Instantly, President (Joe) Biden with the so-called “liberal media” BBC and CNN began beating the drums of provocation and war. What is conveniently forgotten is that the US and its allies have invaded, occupied and ruined more than 50 nations since World War II, and continue to create and spread endless conflict globally. The US is engaged in several proxy and direct wars and seeks a war with China as well. For example, with the help of Islamic State (IS), which is a creation of the US intelligence services as verified by former president Donald Trump, America occupies large parts of Syria where it steals the oil. The US and its allies did the same in Iraq,…

Cadre deployment is part of official ANC policy. It is applied at national, provincial and local level. But there is growing discontent about it. Many blame it for the widespread corruption and mismanagement in government. The main opposition party, the DA, has gone to court to have the policy declared illegal and against the Constitution. It is unrealistic to argue that there should be no political involvement in important appointments in the public service. It happens in almost all political systems. So why the deep concern about it in South Africa? Can the practice be reconciled with the democratic tradition? One of many components of any effective democracy is regular changes in government. Changes in which party governs a country are accompanied by changes in the top political appointments in…

Searchers were still pulling survivors yesterday from the rubble of the earthquake that killed more than 11 200 people in Türkiye and Syria, even as the window for rescues narrowed. For two days and nights since the 7.8 magnitude quake, thousands of searchers have worked in freezing temperatures to find those still alive under flattened buildings on either side of the border. Turkish Red Crescent chief Kerem Kinik had warned that the first 72 hours were critical in search and rescue efforts, but pointed to complications of “severe weather conditions”. Emergency workers yesterday saved some children found under a collapsed building in the hard-hit Turkish province of Hatay, where whole stretches of towns have been levelled. Officials and medics said 8 574 people had died in Türkiye and…

Civil Society organisations DNA For Africa and Action Society are putting pressure on President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare the Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Amendment Act – better known as the DNA Act – operational. Almost two months after Ramaphosa signed the bill into law in December, it remains inactive. It was adopted by the National Council of Provinces without amendments in September after a 7-year process. Once enacted, the act would compel the government to take DNA samples of schedule 8 offenders and add them to the convicted offenders’ database before the offenders are released on parole. Schedule 8 offences include murder, rape, serious assault, theft, kidnapping and public violence. Action Society community safety director Ian Cameron said setting the date for the operation of the act was a simple…

Doctors should, in an ideal world, be able to claim from the Compensation Fund and be paid within 30 to 60 days. In essence these doctors found that their claims were invariably never met. The doctors then decided to stop treating individuals who were injured at work. Third party claimants then intervened who said they would pay the doctors directly, with a discount, allowing the injured employees to be able to get the medical services they desperately needed. The third parties would then claim directly from the Compensation Fund and make a small profit as they had received a discounted rate on the medical invoices. These third parties had the ability and the wherewithal and the funding to sue the Compensation Fund if the Compensation Fund did not pay them…

Having emerged victorious in the ANC party leadership election in December 2022, the president and his people may be tempted to just let current policies run their dismal and lacklustre course as this administration winds down to the 2024 elections. But if President Cyril Ramaphosa is indeed putting the interests of the people first, he should use this State of the Nation Address (Sona) to commit to laying the strongest foundation needed to rebuild not just a capable, but a recovering state, by committing to passing a universal basic income grant (UBIG) into law. The next elections will probably herald in a ragged patchwork of coalition legislatures. Current experiences of coalition government are illustrated in the ongoing power tussles, battles and ambushes in the cities of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane.…

UKRAINE’S President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Britain and others yesterday to give Ukraine “wings for freedom” by sending combat aircraft to help turn the tide against Russia’s offensive, hoping to overcome Western reluctance to take that step. Western countries have scaled up their pledges of military aid for Ukraine this year with promises of hundreds of tanks and armoured vehicles as well as longer range weapons, but have so far refused to deliver war planes. Zelenskiy praised Britain and the West for the support and the sanctions they had provided so far in an address to lawmakers from across the political spectrum in the Gothic expanse of parliament’s Westminster Hall in London. But, offering an airforce helmet with the message “we have freedom, give us wings to protect it” to the…

THE Premier League has charged Manchester City with alleged violations of its regulations, starting from 2009 and continuing into the current 2022/23 season. What are the charges against the English champions and what does all this mean? ACCURATE FINANCIAL INFORMATION For every season from 2009/10 to 2017/18, City are alleged to have breached rules that require clubs to provide accurate financial information to give the league a “true and fair view” of the club’s revenues, including sponsorships, and operating costs. German publication Der Spiegel reported in November 2018 that City inflated the value of their sponsorship deals with organisations related to their Abu Dhabi owners, including state-owned airline Etihad and telecoms company Etisalat. City are part of the City Football Group, which is majority owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed…

BULLS coach Jake White earlier this week penned an open letter titled ‘Sport is not life and death, your next heartbeat is’ and his thoughtful soliloquy was an important reminder that every so often, all of us must take a moment of introspection and reset our priorities. The former Springbok World Cup-winning coach’s musing sprung from a hospital bed after he recently underwent emergency abdominal surgery due to a life-threatening blood clot present in his small intestine. According to White, had this clot dislodged and passed through his brain, the 59-year-old would have suffered a stroke; had it entered his heart, a heart-attack; and if it had reached his lungs, he would have collapsed. White was fortunate in that he was on tour when the worst of the ailment fouled…

Alec Baldwin’s lawyers are seeking to have the special prosecutor on the Rust case disqualified. The 64-year-old actor is due to appear in court on February 24, over the death of Halyna Hutchins – but Baldwin’s lawyers have filed to have Andrea Reeb, who serves as a prosecutor and as a state lawmaker, disqualified from the case, calling her involvement “unconstitutional”. In a motion filed on Tuesday, Baldwin’s lawyers said: “Representative Reeb is not constitutionally permitted to serve simultaneously as a legislator and a special prosecutor. “Doing so vests two core powers of different branches – legislating and prosecuting – in the same person and is thus barred by the plain language of Article III of the New Mexico Constitution.” Reeb was elected to the New Mexico House of Representatives…

EFF, SACP, trade unions and various civil society organisations to take dissatisfaction to the city streets today Ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (Sona), unions, political parties and civil society organisations with one gripe or another against the government are readying themselves to protest, heckle and even stop the president from delivering his speech at City Hall at 7pm this evening. The organisers of these events, planned to take place throughout the day in the heart of Cape Town, spoke about their frustration and anger over the everyday challenges that have led to this action – and why they chose to demonstrate today. EFF national spokesperson Sinawo Thambo reiterated leader Julius Malema’s threat that the EFF would not allow the president to speak at Sona. The…

The man accused of killing a 32-year-old Khayelitsha mother in 2018 appeared in the Western Cape High Court where the State intends to get to the bottom of her mysterious murder. Wendy Papu was killed on January 9, allegedly by her boyfriend, Thando Faku. It is alleged she was with her baby in the lounge area of their Khayelitsha home when Faku entered and fired a single shot to her head, killing her instantly. The trial is before acting Judge Constance Nziweni. Yesterday Khayelitsha resident Musa Berend, 25, testified as to what he saw the night Papu was killed. Thulani Papu, who identified his sister when she was found dead in her nightgown, sat quietly in the gallery. Berend said he went outside his home when he heard…

The non-racial South African Council on Sport (Sacos) will celebrate its 50th anniversary on March 17. Around the country, clubs, provinces and schools will commemorate this memorable event. For those who did not know the contribution that Sacos made to non-racial sport in SA, here’s a brief overview. I do not have to remind South Africans that since 1652 and up to 1994, we had been a divided country. Many will say we are now a free country. Others will say we are still fighting for our economic freedom. Before 1973, we had sports organisations based along racial grounds. Those who believed that we had to have one united South Africa also believed that in sport we had to have one non-racial sports organisation. The so-called “white” sports organisations vehemently…

Today a deeply compromised president of the decaying ANC, Cyril Ramaphosa, will appear on our TV screens delivering his constructed empty promises speech to the nation. South Africans should remember his previous statement made in 2018, when he told the country that “load shedding is a thing of the past and it’s over”. Other lies were told in his 2022 State of the Nation Address (Sona). Ramaphosa said “restoring Eskom to operational and financial health is my government's top priority”. Today we all know none of these promises have been fulfilled. We live in the dark while ministers have generators in their private homes at taxpayers’ expense. Ramaphosa will go down in history as the president who said a lot, but delivered very little. A man with no backbone. His…

ALL EYES and ears will be on Cyril Ramaphosa when he delivers the much-anticipated State of the Nation Address (Sona) today. Much has been written and said in the media about what the president is expected to say, and what he ought to say to South Africans as Parliament opens for 2023. The state that the nation finds itself in is so grave that the ANC is already discussing the feasibility of declaring a national state of disaster, to resolve its energy crisis. Eskom must top the list of Ramaphosa’s priorities. It is currently the most serious challenge to South Africans’ lives and livelihoods. Persistently high unemployment against a backdrop of rising fuel and food prices, and slow economic growth, must be addressed. Corruption and mismanagement at state-owned enterprises, resulting…

JAPANESE prosecutors yesterday arrested a former senior Tokyo Olympics official and three businessmen over alleged bid-rigging linked to the Games, the latest twist in a growing corruption scandal. In a statement, Tokyo prosecutors said they arrested Yasuo Mori, 55, a senior Tokyo 2020 organising committee official, for allegedly violating the anti-monopoly law. Prosecutors also detained Koji Henmi, an official at advertising giant Dentsu, Masahiko Fujino of TV production and sales company Fuji Creative Corp, and Yoshiji Kamata of events operator Cerespo. Local media published photos of police raiding the home of Mori, who ran test events for the pandemic-postponed Summer Games held in 2021. The four are accused of rigging a string of supposedly open competitive bids and limited tender contracts for Olympic events, reportedly worth a total of ¥40-billion…