Indholdsfortegnelse for 2023-04-18 i Cape Argus

Many South African parents are falling under the burden of the rising cost of living and providing for their children’s education and basic needs. The cost of education, stationery, and other necessities like school uniforms can be particularly high, making it difficult for many families to cover these costs, leading to financial stress for parents, as well as difficulties for children in terms of accessing the resources they need to succeed in school. There is no doubt the cost of living crisis is having a massive impact on people across all income levels globally. According to the UN Development Programme, soaring food and energy prices have seen 71 million people in developing countries fall into poverty. In South Africa, economists believe the country is at a high risk of entering…

South African-bred Zimbabwean artist FakeAno has returned to complete the African Boy Trilogy with the release of his long awaited EP, African Boy 3. His musical journey started in high school when FakeAno and his friends started a hip hop band who went on to perform in more than 200 live shows on some of the biggest stages across South Africa. FakeAno has since gone solo and is creating a name for himself, gaining popularity as an artist. Releasing a trilogy was something he planned from the get-go as a way to break out and stand out. “Choosing to do music full-time is probably one of the most challenging things. I had to sacrifice all the other stuff that I was pretty good at or that was really paying me.…

The owner of a drug rehabilitation facility accused of murdering one of his patients has gone on the run. The defence lawyer for suspect Zaid Isaacs has withdrawn from the murder trial, which is set to be heard in the Western Cape High Court, after he failed to pitch for his pretrial hearing for the second time. Isaacs, the owner of Synergy Rehabilitation and Upliftment Centre in Ruyterwacht, is charged with the murder of Mitchells Plain father Igshaan Philander, 35, whose body was found dumped in Philippi a day after his family was told he had run away from the rehab in November 2021. Police later arrested Isaacs, with Vuyani Kedama, Moegamat Ishmail Jones and Moegamat Rafiek Ishmail and the rehabilitation centre was shut down. During the bail hearings at…

Canadian rock star Bryan Adams is returning to South African for the So Happy It Hurts tour. Big Concerts recently confirmed dates for the tour, which kicks off in Cape Town at the Grand Arena, GrandWest, on November 7 and then heads to Pretoria on November 10 at SunBet Arena, Time Square. Adams has the reputation of being one of the most exciting live musicians in the world. His energetic vocals and stage presence have proven to be entertaining for over 40 years, with banging hits such as Cuts Like A Knife, Summer of '69, Kids Wanna Rock, Can’t Stop This Thing We’ve Started, (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, Open Road and Thought I’d Seen Everything. His songwriting has garnered the 63-year-old artist numerous awards and accolades,…

There are many reasons wickedness succeeds and it is primarily human weakness. Since most people are selfish, greedy and corrupt, they would discard beliefs, if there were any financial benefit. The best example is history. For example, the Pharisees and rabbis did not care about Jesus of Nazareth until Jesus spoke against corruption. John the Baptist preached a similar message and was tolerated for a long time until he defied authority. Few care about religious issues and that is why Hollywood films and anything to do with Jesus or John the Baptist usually focus on the periphery but rarely on the real message. Jesus Christ and John the Baptist had a few crucial messages. First, to confirm monotheism – the authority of one Creator. Second, to free people from the…

The Castle in the centre of the city is the oldest building in South Africa, an iconic structure that is high on the list of “things to see in SA” – a tourist magnet. Table Mountain is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World and I have spent many fabulous days on its slopes. I’ve been up in the old cable car three times, walked to the top from all sides, and climbed dozens of its favourite rock climbs. When they were only four years old, my wife and I would take our triplets on walks up Platteklip Gorge, along the Contour path to Kloof corner, much to the amusement of any other walkers we met. It’s a truly wonderful and magical place. Yesterday, I had reason to…

WINE was first produced in South Africa as far back as the mid-1600s by Dutch colonisers who sold it to passing ships. The industry developed further during the colonial and apartheid eras and wine became an important part of the South African economy. A recent study reports that the industry now employs close to 300 000 people. A 2021 report indicates that it generates R10 billion in export value annually. While wine does not rank as one of South Africa’s biggest industries, it contributes 1.1% to South Africa’s GDP and 1.6% of the country’s total employment, making it significant to the economy. With the formal end of apartheid in 1994, new labour laws to protect workers from exploitation were introduced. However, many observers continued to have concerns about the…

Few financial advisers or their clients seem to know the risks of not performing a tax-directive simulation before making a withdrawal from a retirement fund. What happens if a financial adviser doesn’t perform a tax directive simulation on a client’s half before they withdraw funds from a retirement vehicle? When you exit a retirement fund – which can occur when you retire, resign, are retrenched, emigrate or get divorced – a tax amount will be payable to the South African Revenue Service (Sars). In the case of retirement and retrenchment, clients may have to settle debt, and an emergency fund may be critical. If clients are retrenched, there could be uncertainty as to when they will again be gainfully employed. It is therefore critical to have an idea upfront of…

CONGREGANTS of the Showers of Blessing Christian Zion Church in Taiwan, Site C, Khayelitsha, relived their horrific ordeal of being robbed and sexually molested in church on Sunday with Police Minister Bheki Cele. The minister visited the area after several incidents of crime there. Congregation member Ntombohlanga Buzani said two young men entered their church during load shedding, just after 4am on Easter Sunday. After a battle to try to keep them out, the duo entered the church and said they are “the same God that has been raised that morning”. The young perpetrators, aged about 20 to 21, started by breaking a bulb that provided light as they went around asking for money and cellphones. The two then went on to tell all 17 women and one gay member…

A senior nurse at the Melomed Mitchells Plain private hospital became a hero when she helped a pregnant patient deliver a baby in the hospital’s parking lot after her water broke. Ntombizodwa Zuzani, had experienced minor back pain for a few days prior to the incident. She had been busy preparing her first child for school when she noticed an increase in pain and felt the need to use the bathroom. She made her way to the hospital. En route her water broke and on arrival at the hospital she encountered Pretty Njapha, a Melomed Mitchells Plain private hospital senior nurse in the parking area. Melomed group marketing manager, Shameema Adams, said Njapha was on her lunch break on her way out of the hospital when a man approached her,…

Right of response – Cape Argus – April 6, 2023. The article titled “Provincial Treasury underspent by R17.6 million”, published on April 6, has reference. While the article correctly states that the underspending of 5.7% refers to the 2021/22 financial year, it is important for Cape Argus readers to be aware of the very significant progress made in the most recently concluded financial year, 2022/23, in which 99.5% of the total budget allocated to the provincial treasury was spent. This commendable progress is due to additional measures put in place to address underspending and include detailed monthly cash flow monitoring, quarterly engagements with each directorate covering all areas of financial management, from management accounting, supply chain management, internal control and financial accounting, as well as the distribution of immediate…

If you read my past two columns, you will be aware that I have been taking you on my journey to my very first night sleeping rough on the streets of Cape Town. I started walking from the Parade at about 7pm as I was feeling very uncomfortable with the attention my bag of clothes was receiving from other homeless people and I didn’t know the area well enough at night to find a place to sleep. I had decided to walk to Sea Point where I had lived and felt more comfortable about finding a place to crash for the night. But let me tell you that thinking you know Sea Point because you happened to have owned a place in Selbourne Place and knowing that same place on…

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa would have walked out of the 5th South Africa Investment Conference, held in Johannesburg last week, a happy but nervous man. He announced that the total value of investment commitments over its first five years amounted to over R1.5 trillion. This exceeded the target of R1.2 trillion set in 2018. There has been significant support for data and telecommunications infrastructure, as well as in the mining, manufacturing, energy, property, logistics and the food and beverage sectors. Commitments of R200 billion were made in South Africa’s telecommunications network by Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, Rain and Liquid Telecom. International players including Amazon Web Services, Teraco and Dimension Data have made commitments of R21bn. Amazon planned to grow its investment with a further R30bn in the next six years. This influx…

Award-winning rapper YoungstaCPT and producer Shaney Jay have released the visuals for Benni McCarthy, the lead single off their second collaborative project, Suffer For Beauty. On Benni McCarthy, the Cape Town rapper shows his versatility as he dabbles in the catchy drill sound. “I wrote the song Benni McCarthy in 2022 around the time the news broke that he was going to be coaching with Manchester United. “It was a magical moment for all Cape Townians and seeing him on the same field as Ronaldo who also returned to the football club. I wanted to capture that feeling of pride and patriotism in music,” explained YoungstaCPT. Shot by Mzi Xander, the visuals show Hanover Park, which is the birthplace of McCarthy, and Athlone stadium, which is a cultural landmark in…

A 66-year-old taxi driver was arrested and detained because a 63-year-old woman was allegedly knocked down by him on the Jakkalsvlei Bridge coming from Valhalla Drive, Kalksteenfontein, in the early hours of yesterday morning. Police spokesperson Joseph Swartbooi said Bishop Lavis police registered a culpable homicide case for further investigation. “Bishop Lavis police responded to a complaint on Monday, April 17. Upon their arrival at Jakkalsvlei Avenue at around 8.10am they found the body of a 63-year-old female. “Reports suggested that the victim was hit by a motor vehicle and sustained fatal injuries. The victim was declared deceased on the scene by the medical personnel,” he said. Sophia Isaacs’s death comes just a few weeks after 88-year-old Olga Grill from the same area was mauled by her neighbour’s two pit…

Excellent article by Lorenzo Davids (“House the homeless where you find them”, Cape Argus, April 17) – he has researched the problem internationally, and has very logical and practical reasons for his recommendations. Hopefully it will inspire some positive responses. But the housing context is so much wider than just the homeless – there are hundreds of thousands of people who have been on the housing waiting lists for decades; do the homeless take precedence over them? And is the place “where you find them” suitable for developing houses? (We have “seasonal” homeless in a detention pond nearby, who have to move every winter because of flooding.) To paraphrase the great Desmond Tutu: Pulling people out of the river is the right thing to do, but we should go upstream…

Pieter Toerien’s Buddy Holly Show, on at the Artscape Theatre for a limited season only, is a polished, must-see show-stopper! My wife, Ursula, and brother Mac and Brenda had the pleasure of seeing this feast of entertainment recently. But what a show! The actors were impeccable and their American accents were authentic and not contrived. The music of the late Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens was exceptional, and the nostalgia conjured up great memories of these great musicians of yesteryear. The props and stage decor with audiovisuals were appropriate and the stage lighting was superb. Well done to producer Pieter Toerien on a fabulously entertaining show. It was thoroughly deserved of a standing ovation.…

In the mid-1980s, a cult classic action movie, The Terminator, came out, depicting a future where Artificial Intelligence (AI) brings mankind to the brink of destruction, but as with most cheesy Hollywood stories, the good guys (us the humans) manage to turn things around and defeat the bad guys (the robots). Unfortunately, life does not always play out like in the movies. Where yes, we are heading towards an AI era, much as depicted in The Terminator, but instead of a war on the battlefield, our war with AI appears to be looming in the job markets. In our case, we can’t expect a miraculous win to appear for us out of the blue, as though our narrative was written by a room of Hollywood writers. Instead, we need to…

Explosions rocked the Sudanese capital Khartoum yesterday as fighting between the army and paramilitary forces led by rival generals raged for a third day with the death toll surpassing 100. The violence erupted at the weekend after weeks of power struggles between the two generals who seized power in a 2021 coup, Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict, which has seen air strikes, tanks on the streets, artillery fire and heavy gunfire in crowded suburbs both in Khartoum and other cities across Sudan, has triggered international demands for an immediate ceasefire. As the fighting showed no sign of abating, Daglo took to Twitter to call for the international community to intervene against Burhan,…

Chelsea are not a “broken” team this season and co-owner Todd Boehly had every right to address the squad he has invested in, manager Frank Lampard said yesterday ahead of their Uefa Champions League second leg quarter-final against Real Madrid tonight. Chelsea, who trail Real Madrid 2-0 on aggregate after losing the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, go into the game on the back of a six-match winless run, with interim boss Lampard losing his first three games in charge. With Chelsea 17 points off the top four despite spending more than 600 million euros ($655.50 million) on new players, winning the Champions League is the London club’s only realistic chance of qualifying for the lucrative competition next season. The situation is similar to when Chelsea finished sixth in…