Indholdsfortegnelse for 2023-09-11 i Cape Argus

The National Film Academy has announced the official nominees for the National Film & TV Awards South Africa (NFTAs). With a history spanning 25 years, the National Film Academy is one of the world’s biggest film and TV academies, with 7.5 million members globally. As the driving force behind awards such as the National Film Awards UK, the National Film & TV Awards USA, and the National Reality Television Awards, the Academy has now launched the annual National Film & TV Awards in South Africa. The South African version of the NFTAs will take place at the Opera Theatre in Pretoria on October 21. Previous notable South African accolades from the academy’s international awards include Trevor Noah’s win for Best Talk Show at the National Film and TV Awards USA…

The Springboks’ slow poison worked its magic against Scotland yesterday in Marseille as they started the defence of their World Cup title with a solid 18-3 win. A packed Stade Velodrome greeted captain Siya Kolisi and his men as the Boks enjoyed some vociferous support from the second they jogged on to the field for their warm-up, and when the national anthem, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika, belted through the stadium. Once the game kicked off, Kolisi and his men had a good part of the crowd behind them from minute one until the final whistle blew. And as Mandoza’s Nkalakatha rang through the stadium at the end, the Springbok fans could rejoice as some of them managed to get autographs and pictures with their World Cup heroes. “We are playing for…

In A massive blow to the fight against gender-based violence and femicide, the Department of Police Oversight and Community Safety has revealed that 77 cases related to gender-based violence had been struck off the court roll within six months as a result of police inefficiencies. In a statement released yesterday, it revealed that between October and March this year, the second and third quarter reports of the Western Cape Department of Police Oversight and Community Safety’s (POCS) Court Watching Briefs (CWB) unit, show that 283 cases monitored during this period at 33 courts, linked to 82 SAPS stations in the Western Cape, were struck off the court rolls due to police inefficiencies. The courts monitored are located in Khayelitsha, Bishop Lavis, Blue Downs, Strand, Philippi, Mitchells Plain, Bellville, Wynberg, Athlone,…

The City of Cape Town’s fight against electricity infrastructure vandals is still an ongoing battle in spite of the local municipality’s fierce efforts to elicit support from affected communities with incentives. Following a working visit to Tafelsig, Mitchells Plain, City of Cape Town Mayco member for energy Beverley van Reenen revealed that the City’s electricity teams had attended to more than 1 600 street light repairs in Mitchells Plain in four months. While the figure suggested that the City was making great strides in tending to torn-down infrastructure in the community, the directorate revealed that its department had received more than 3 298 street light service requests for Mitchells Plain between May and August this year. Van Reenen said while the majority of street light-related faults in the area are…

WHILE Independent Media faces the real risk of shutting down if the Equality Court rules against it in a case brought against Standard Bank shutting down its accounts, there may be a glimmer of hope as some in the ANC KwaZulu-Natal leadership are in support of establishing a state bank as an alternative. The support of the creation of a state bank was highlighted during an ANC “state bank workshop” held in Durban in June. After the Competition Appeal Tribunal ruled against Sekunjalo Investment Holdings (SIH), the group, whose chairman Dr Iqbal Survé has previously called for the establishment of a state bank, finds its fate is in the hands of the Equality Court, which is expected to make its ruling tomorrow. The court ruling would likely determine whether or…

Survivors of Morocco’s deadliest earthquake in more than six decades struggled to find food and water yesterday as the search for the missing continued in hard-to-reach villages and the death toll of more than 2 000 seemed likely to rise further. Many people spent a second night in the open after the 6.8 magnitude quake hit late on Friday. Relief workers face the challenge of reaching the worst-affected villages in the High Atlas, a rugged mountain range where settlements are often remote and where many houses crumbled. Moroccan media reported the collapse of a historically important 12th century mosque, underlining damage to the country’s cultural heritage. The quake also damaged parts of Marrakech old city, a Unesco World Heritage site. In Moulay Brahim, a village near the epicentre 40km…

When Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos looks at the ins and outs of his team’s hit-out against neighbours Namibia on Saturday, he’ll have a sense of optimism about the future. His initial plans for the international friendly against Namibia’s Brave Warriors were somewhat derailed because of a plethora of injuries. The ‘walking wounded’ included several first-choices, among them Khuliso Mudau, Bongokuhle Hlongwane, Themba Zwane, Thapelo Maseko, Luke le Roux, Thapelo Morena and Teboho Mokoena. In addition, there were other members of the country’s ‘Foreign Legion’ like Cassius Mailula (Toronto FC) and Njabulo Blom (St Louis City), whom Broos felt needed time to settle in their new surroundings, so he decided not give to them a call-up. One of the players who benefited from Blom’s absence was Grant Magerman, who recently…

A family is living in fear after three people were shot and killed in Hout Bay. The victims – aged 26, 20 and 18 – and an unknown person were attacked in the early hours of yesterday. According to the police, two died on the scene while two others were rushed to hospital, where the 18-year-old victim died. When the Cape Argus arrived at the relatives’ home in Imizamo Yethu, a woman expressed how stressed they were about the incident. “We cannot tell you what happened because we are scared that if we give out any information about the murders, the killers might come back and wipe out the rest of the family.We don’t know why they were shot and that is all we are prepared to say.” Spokesperson Wesley…

Civil Society organisation OUT LGBT-Wellbeing (OUT) has launched yet another campaign in support of the LGBTIQ+ community, but this time the campaign is focused on making the Equality Courts a friendly ally to the community. South African Equality Courts are specialised courts designated to hear matters relating to unfair discrimination, hate speech and harassment. OUT announced the launch of its 4-month-long campaign with a strong message aimed at the country’s courts saying it was time to educate South Africa's LGBTIQ+ community about the court’s functions and how to effectively access them. OUT’s campaign is supported by Open Society Foundations and will see the non-profit organisation publish a series of social media posts that emphasise key facts about Equality Courts. According to OUT, the posts will all be linked to an…

In commemoration of National Wills Week, South African-based lawyer firms across the country are channelling their goodwill by extending part of their services to the public free of charge. National Wills Weeks (NWW) is an initiative organised by the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) every year between September 11 and 15. Since its inception, the week-long event has allowed members of the general public to have their basic wills drafted by qualified and experienced attorneys. This year, in line with the objective of NWW, the Western Cape government has also added its voice, calling on the general public to make use of the week-long event. The provincial government’s Department of Infrastructure at the weekend made a call to all its housing beneficiaries to seize the opportunity and have their…

When a country wilfully abandons its prowess to interpret its history and present reality and succumbs to delusional fallacies to reinterpret established facts, then there is no longer any remedy for its terminal malaise. The United States of America has been on this path for about the last 40 years, and it eventually gave them Donald Trump as president. Podium stomping, name-calling, and crowd-pleasing lies and distortions of established truths will win him a second term as president in 2024. South Africa is on a similar pathway. The art of fact-checking politicians is considered so old school that no one bothers with it anymore. Calling out lies and untruths doesn’t have any effect on a politician’s electability anymore. In Trump’s case, his reinterpretation of both historical facts and the crowd’s…

SOUTH Africa is renowned for having one of the world’s biggest populations of great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias). Substantial declines have been observed, however, in places where the sharks usually gather on the Western Cape coast. In Cape Town, skilled “shark spotters” documented a peak of more than 300 great white shark sightings across eight beaches in 2011, but have recorded no sightings since 2019. These declines have sparked concerns about the overall conservation status of the species. Conserving great white sharks is vital. As top predators, they help maintain the health and balance of marine food webs. Their presence influences the behaviour of other marine animals, affecting the entire ecosystem’s structure and stability. Marine biologists, like us, needed to know whether the decline in numbers in the Western Cape…

1 600 jobs, 15 news titles put at risk STANDARD Bank’s planned closure of the accounts of South Africa’s largest newspaper company, Independent Media, will deal a devastating blow to the media industry, press freedom and sector jobs. “Indy” publishes 15 titles nationwide, including the Cape Argus, The Mercury and The Star. Together, the titles account for one third of the total number of daily and weekly newspapers (45) in circulation in the country today. Its sister company, Africa Community Media (ACM), prints 18 free community newspapers in three provinces, including titles such as the CapeTowner, Athlone News, Diamond Fields Advertiser and Isolezwe lesiXhosa. Combined with online platform IOL and the GQ and Glamour magazines in partnership with Condé Nast International, the media stable reaches more than 17 million users…

Police have vowed to arrest the men who shot and killed a woman in Kalksteenfontein. Leché Anderson, 29, was walking on Hanekam Street on Thursday afternoon when she was shot by unidentified gunmen. Her aunt, Gina Anderson, who lived with her, said the family did not know the reason for the attack. “I was at work when the incident took place. I received a call informing me she had been shot. “We cannot say why it happened. We are letting the police investigate the case.” Anderson was a mother to a 5-year-old girl. “She was a single mom. She worked for herself and her daughter. Leche’ was a humble young woman. She was very kind,” Gina said. “Things have not been easy since she was taken from us. We are…

SA Tourism, on Friday, informed its employees it had withdrawn Nomasonto Ndlovu from her acting role as CEO. In an email signed by SA Tourism board chairperson Tim Harris, he said the board resolved to withdraw Ndlovu’s appointment, and she would revert to her position as COO. This came after a whistle-blower called the SA Tourism hotline to report that Ndlovu had accepted a R100 000 bribe from Qatar Airlines for flights in business class, accommodation, and World Cup tickets. The caller said the incident occurred on December 6 and 7, 2022. Harris, said that after media reports and allegations made against Ndlovu regarding the bribe, an initial inquiry was conducted and the board made the decision to retain Ndlovu in her position subject to the completion of an investigation…

GIFT of the Givers (GOTG) said the organisation’s search, rescue and medical teams are on standby should the Moroccan Government express the need for its assistance. A 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck the Marrakech-Safi region on Friday night. More than 2 000 people are reportedly dead, however, this number is expected to rise as search and rescue operations remain under way. Morocco’s Interior Ministry reported that 2 012 people have died. More than 2 000 people have also been injured. GOTG founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman said its teams were put on standby from the first hour of the earthquake but could only respond if a call was made for international assistance by the Moroccan government. “All gratitude to the people of Morocco, who with their bare hands are taking out…

A COURT bid to prevent Standard Bank from closing the accounts of Independent Media and 30 other companies in the Sekunjalo Group is the latest in a growing global challenge to banks’ discriminatory conduct. Sekunjalo’s interdict application to prevent its group companies’ accounts from being closed will be heard in court tomorrow. Standard Bank had signalled its intention to close the accounts on September 15. The perceived abuse of power by the banks was highlighted in June last year, when the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture called for financial legislation to be changed, and that new laws be introduced that will require banks to give clients an opportunity to defend themselves before closure of their accounts. Chief Justice Raymond Zondo had said at the time: “It’s unacceptable that…

As we waited for the Springboks to make their bow at the Rugby World Cup against Scotland last night, we had to watch another national team, Bafana Bafana, in action on Saturday. The South African national football team were involved in an international friendly in front of a sparse crowd at the Orlando Stadium, where they faced Namibia in what is a preparation game for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations tournament. Bafana fans would have hoped for another eye-catching display, following their last major match against Fifa World Cup semi-finalists Morocco, where SA emerged 2-1 victors at the FNB Stadium in June. But coach Hugo Broos’ side were hugely disappointing against the Namibians in Orlando, only coming up with a goalless draw. Granted, it was a very different-looking Bafana…