Indholdsfortegnelse for 2023-03-08 i Cape Argus

Actor Craig Jackson is set to deliver “timeless humour” in the latest version of the classic comedy production Defending the Caveman, that will be staged at Sandton’s Theatre on the Square for a limited run. The one-man show explores the differences between men and women and has become a worldwide phenomenon since its inception over three decades ago. The show was originally created by American comedian Rob Becker, who drew inspiration from his experiences and observations of male-female relationships. The multi-award-winning show has been performed in over 45 countries and translated into more than 30 languages. At the helm of this new version of Defending The Caveman is celebrated actress, producer and director Aurelie Stratton. Speaking to IOL Entertainment, Stratton said: “Defending The Caveman provides a fresh perspective on relationships…

The City has added another member to the K9 team to help combat rising cable theft. According to the City, the arrests made by the Metal Theft Unit have risen since November last year. Despite the horror stories aligned to this breed of dog, the City has managed to train and hire a pit bull by the name of Jackson that will be responsible for sniffing out copper during raids. Donated to the unit, Jackson, 5, was trained to detect missing people by his previous owner. Being adopted, he was then trained to detect narcotics and was the only K9 who could imprint on copper. Metro police spokesperson Ruth Solomons said the pit bull will be with the unit until it turns seven years old, or until there are medical…

Richard’s Bay have confirmed the passing of club captain Siphamandla Mtolo yesterday afternoon. The 29-year-old midfielder is said to have collapsed during training. “It is with deep sadness that we announce that Richard’s Bay Football Club has lost one of its midfielders in Siphamanda Mtolo, who collapsed this morning during training,” Richard’s Bay said. “The club are not in a position to provide further information at this stage and ask that his family’s privacy be respected in the difficult time. His presence both on and off the pitch will be sorely missed.” The defensive midfielder had only begun his journey in the South African top flight in 2023, after missing a huge chunk of the first half of the campaign through injury. “Spepe” as he was affectionately known by…

A Cape Town couple who had gone to Home Affairs to get married were in for a nasty surprise when they were met by striking public servants who could only assist by singing “umakoti nge wethu” (the bride is ours) for them, a popular South African wedding song. The would-be bride and groom had gone to the Home Affairs branch on Monday, unaware that public workers were on strike. In a short video clip, the couple are seen in their wedding clothes, standing in the middle of the crowd of protesters as they sing, ululate and clap for them. But acting Public Service and Administration (DPSA) Minister Thulas Nxesi said employees participating in an unlawful strike would be subject to the no-work, no-pay principle. Nxesi, speaking during a virtual media…

I was going to pursue my lambaste of the assumed position of privilege by whites which, I felt, needed to be interrogated. As a mentor at university in a post-graduate post-colonial course labelled it, the “colonial contagion”. I ended last week’s piece with the words, “Watch this space”. However, I have had five years of writing much of the same old, same old, and I was brought to slow-down mode by a response from a reader who has been following my mental and verbal meanderings for a long time. It affected me enough to construe this week’s contribution. I consulted my editor and I have his blessing in the discourse that follows. I just need a moment to contextualise my response with two quotes: Quote One: “There is only one…

IT IS annoying and painful at the same time that soldiers opened fire with live ammunition on citizens protesting against the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s prolonged announcement of the 2018 presidential election results in the streets of Harare. Six civilians were shot dead. In January 2019, a 150% fuel price hike sparked violent street protests and led to the death of a least 17 people after a harsh security crackdown. It’s sad that Zanu-PF continues to kill people like chickens. These attacks are clearly intended to harass and intimidate members of the political opposition in the months leading up to Zimbabwe’s upcoming election. In a short video clip doing the rounds, older men and women can be seen being assaulted and interrogated simply for attending a meeting of the Citizens Coalition…

Excellent teachers can change our lives. Researchers have shown that good teachers encourage us to think critically, reflect and learn across disciplines. These are all skills that can set us up for life. I have had the privilege of being taught by a few brilliant teachers in my life, and I have also observed teaching excellence at the numerous schools I have visited over the years as an education academic. Those who stand out are devoted, imaginative, motivated and motivating, and eager to overcome challenging conditions to make a positive difference in the lives of young people. Teachers are expected to teach, but great teachers also have a wealth of knowledge and experience and are eager to learn from their learners. They bring their cultural capital – what they have…

Seoul: South Koreans who were forced to work for Japanese companies during World War II yesterday denounced Seoul’s new plan to compensate them and end a historic dispute with Tokyo as “dirty money”. Seoul announced plans to pay the victims with money taken from South Korean companies that benefited from a 1965 reparations deal, in a bid to break the “vicious cycle” in its relations with Tokyo. Japan and the US welcomed the plan for voluntary contributions from the Japanese companies involved, such as Mitsubishi and Nippon Steel. But victims’ groups said that it fell far short. | AFP…

Geneva: Malnutrition is leaving children in Malawi vulnerable to the country’s worst cholera outbreak, the UN warned yesterday as it appealed for more than $50 million (R927m) to help combat the spread. An estimated 4.8 million children, one in two, in the nation need humanitarian aid, the UN said. By the end of the month, 21 000 children under 5 are expected to be acutely malnourished, and 62 000 severely malnourished. Malawi now has the deadliest cholera epidemic in its recorded history, combined with a polio outbreak and Covid-19 infections, claiming 1 500 lives so far with 197 child fatalities. | AFP…

Two little sisters have been laid to rest after they were tragically hit by a taxi. Nishaat Thomas, 6, and her 2-year-old sister Nurah were in a fatal accident on the corner of Merrydale and Wespoort Drive in Portlands, Mitchells Plain, just after 4pm on Friday. Their heartbroken parents Raihaana and Abduragmaan spoke to Cape Argus sister paper the Daily Voice while preparing to lay their last child to rest on Monday. Nishaat died on impact and was buried on Saturday, while little Nurah passed away in hospital on Sunday. Abduragmaan, 35, said they were driving in his Opel Corsa when a Toyota Quantum van allegedly smashed into them just metres from their home as they returned from fetching Nurah at the crèche. It is alleged that the taxi…

The growing trend of certain groups of community members interfering with law-enforcement agency officers while they are executing their duties is seen as a sign of frustration by the crime-ridden communities. But some don’t agree and blame it on criminals. On Tuesday, the City’s metro police officers responding to gunfire in Hanover Park, came under fire from certain community members. According to safety and security Mayco member JP Smith, the officers were arresting a suspect in Hanover Park for dealing in drugs when, after a while, they responded to a repeated gunfire incident around Algoa Court where a group of community members attempted to free the suspect while another tried to fetch the firearm he had thrown on top of the roof. On Sunday the police also came under attack…

President Cyril Ramaphosa has expanded his Cabinet, which was already of considerable size, and immediately announced plans to trim it down. As it is, taxpayers can expect to fork out more than R74 million annually for the bloated Cabinet of 30 ministers, who are each paid more than R2.4 million annually. This excludes a raft of deputy ministers’ annual salaries of R2 million per person. In addition, taxpayers have been footing bills of almost R1 billion on 97 houses for ministers and deputy ministers in Cape Town and Pretoria since 2019, according to a recent parliamentary reply. The Cape Argus previously reported that some of these ministerial mansions come with generators to protect ministers from load shedding, while ministers free-loaded on water and electricity bills, courtesy of the taxpayer. In…

San Souci Girls’ High School have launched a campaign to reach out to the most unfortunate people in earthquake-stricken Türkiye and Syria. One of the pupils in Grade 12, Chloe Jooste, said she came up with the idea after seeing the devastation on TV. “When I saw the devastation caused by the earthquake, the aftermath of death and excruciating pain suffered by survivors who were rescued from the rubble, my first thought was to be there and lend a hand. But of course, I’m not of age to go. “It was then that I struck upon the idea of approaching our principal, Mrs (Shirley) Humphreys, to help me to collect canned foods for the people of Syria and Türkiye. “Mrs Humphreys blew me out of the water with her offers…

Herman Mashaba’s description of the Cabinet reshuffle as “underwhelming” is unfortunately most apt. The old saying goes that when you find yourself in a hole from which you intend to escape, rule one says … stop digging. We hear the watchwords “corruption” and “incompetence” regularly in our day-to-day speeches these days. Now we can add another, even more frightening word to our daily discourse that of “rudderless” or “leaderless”. The only way we can get out of this mess is when we cast our votes next year. But, so help me, I for one am confused as to where to put my cross. As the king of England once said “will no one rid us of this meddlesome fool?” and before you know it the Archbishop of…

The earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria are a reminder of human frailty and our dependence on God. When disasters occur, many seek clarity in the spiritual or metaphysical realm, while others look towards science. Since Muhammad was the last prophet, nobody has the authority to claim any natural disaster is a penalty from the Creator. We simply do not have access to that knowledge anymore. Thus, we are left with science, where some will talk about tectonic plate movement; others about the abuse of the planet by greed for natural resources. People drill or blast into the earth for gas, oil, gold, diamonds and other minerals. Some suggest that perhaps the building standards in Türkiye and Syria need attention and those liable for ensuring compliance must be held liable. What…

The Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) was implemented to increase employment opportunities for many unemployed South Africans below the poverty line. However, the prevalence of nepotism has not made the process fair. But the EPWP lottery recruitment drive was developed by the City of Tshwane to resolve the dilemma of nepotism. The system aimed to work by randomly selecting aspiring job seekers from their database. The programme looked to reduce human interference by automating the recruitment procedure and improving the access to opportunities. I first came across the initiative when I saw an SABC video, Tshwane Municipality uses artificial intelligence (AI) to fight nepotism. The video did not engage in the AI aspect, and I have struggled to find an adequate explanation of this AI component. Perhaps, the video title…

LONDON: More than 100 low- and middle-income countries have put in early bids for at least $5.5 billion (about R102bn) from a fund that initially has only $300 million to spend to help them better prepare for pandemics. The demand is a sign that pand-emic prevention and preparedness needs more money and attention, said the fund’s secretariat at the World Bank. It is one of a host of global initiatives being set up to help prevent a Covid-19 rerun. However, almost all of the efforts remain under-funded. The World Bank’s pandemic fund has raised around $1.6bn in total so far. | Reuters…

Dismal performers among its 30 ministers Political parties rated President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Cabinet reshuffle – which bloated his executive to a staggering 30 ministers – as a dud. Despite dismal terms, Police Minister Bheki Cele and Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga survived. Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu – who recently squared off with the tourism portfolio committee in the aftermath of the proposed UK-based club Tottenham Hotspur R1bn sponsorship – wasn’t so lucky after publicly bumping heads with Ramaphosa. Presidency Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, and Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, Nathi Mthethwa, who was criticised for attempting to spend taxpayers’ money on a now-canned R21m flag project, also got the chop. Mthethwa, Sisulu and Nkoana-Mashabane’s phones went unanswered yesterday. Cele’s office has struggled to curb…

The WIDOW of slain Anti-Gang Unit commander Charl Kinnear, Nicolette Kinnear, said she is relieved that the high court dismissed the bail appeal of gang leader Nafiz Modack and his two co-accused. Modack, his alleged “enforcer” Jacques Cronje, and police officer Ashley Deon Tabisher approached the Western Cape High Court in May last year asking it to set aside a decision made by the Blue Downs Regional Court in January last year. The main charges against Modack are for the assassination Kinnear in September 2020, and the attempted murder of criminal lawyer William Booth in April 2020. Passing judgment, Judge Mark Sher, who described the trio as a danger to society, said they needed to be kept inside a correctional facility, pending the outcome of their trials. Judge Sher said…

Police in the province have refuted claims of alleged corruption in the service contained in the recently released 2021/22 Policing Needs and Priorities Report. The police officials appeared before the Standing Committee on Community Safety, Cultural Affairs and Sport yesterday to respond to the report, where they were also taken to task over other issues it contained, including the number of lost case dockets and inadequate human resource capacity. According to the report, between 2009 and 2021, 1 303 corruption investigations were lodged against police members in the province, and resulted in 680 members being found guilty. Of these, 304 were dismissed, and others received lesser sanctions. The report further said that in 2019/20, about 33 police officers were arrested on charges of corruption, business robbery, defeating the administration of…

IT was clear from the experiences of those born with a cleft lip and palate how reconstructive surgeries repaired not only their mouths but their lives. Yesterday, Operation Smile received R126 500 in funding from Tata International Africa to continue to provide life-altering free reconstructive surgeries and comprehensive care to adults and children with cleft lip and palate. At the time of her birth, Chwayita Bokana, 24, from Khayelitsha said doctors failed to notice her cleft palate, with her mom only noticing after seeing she was not feeding well. Her mother returned to the hospital for surgery, however it was not successful and she lives with speech impairment. “After the surgery, my mother didn’t go back to tell them it wasn’t successful. Growing up was hard, I was bullied a…

While South Africans are grappling with the undesirable and recalcitrant effects of load shedding, the recent declaration by the president of a national state of disaster to deal with the constraint and severity of electricity supply has evoked mixed feelings from the public that the dreaded intrusiveness of load shedding will be eradicated. Furthermore, the announcement of the new minister of electricity during the Cabinet reshuffle was a glaring display that the government orchestra is in sync towards creating a load shedding-free anthem. First, the president acknowledged that without a reliable supply of electricity, businesses cannot grow, assembly lines cannot run, and crops cannot be irrigated. He further mentioned that the impact of the crisis on farmers must be lessened because this affects food security. Second, during the Budget speech,…

LAST week, there was a joke doing the rounds: the South African government needs a leader like Manchester United coach Erik ten Hag to urgently turn things around. The punchline: It starts with dropping CR. No explanation needed. That was a week ago, the Premier League giants were flying high after lifting the Carabao Cup – an almost unthinkable prospect at the beginning of this season when the Dutchman took over a team of over-paid under-achievers. Credit to Ten Hag, who in quick time has worked wonders at Old Trafford, with the help of a certain Mr Benni McCarthy in his coaching set-up. He’s made tough choices, he’s made unpopular decisions and sweeping changes, which have ultimately paid off. He may not be a crowd-pleaser in the dressing room, but…

The US should change its “distorted” attitude towards China or “conflict and confrontation” will follow, China’s foreign minister said yesterday while defending its stance on the war in Ukraine and its close ties with Russia. The US had been engaging in suppression and containment of China rather than engaging in fair, rule-based competition, Foreign Minister Qin Gang told a news conference on the sidelines of an annual parliament meeting in Beijing. “The United States’ perception and views of China are seriously distorted,” said Qin, a trusted aide to President Xi Jinping and until recently China’s ambassador in Washington. “It regards China as its primary rival and the most consequential geopolitical challenge. This is like the first button in the shirt being put wrong.” Relations between the two superpowers have been…

TEHRAN: The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson yesterday condemned an Israeli attack on Syria’s Aleppo International Airport as a “crime against humanity”. Nasser Kanaani made the remarks in a statement published on the ministry’s website, reacting to an air raid by Israel on the civil airport yesterday. Israel targeted the city’s airport, the main route for the delivery of international humanitarian aid to the Syrian city, when the quake-stricken people in Aleppo were still under tough circumstances, he said. Aleppo was badly damaged in the recent Syria earthquakes. | Xinhua…