Indholdsfortegnelse for 2023-09-13 i Cape Argus

Hamba Nam Ndipheleke, a gripping drama by Nompumezo Buzani, runs at the Pam Golding Theatre at The Baxter from tomorrow to September 30. Performed in isiXhosa with English subtitles, Hamba Nam Ndipheleke (which means come with me, accompany me) is a Grade 10 set work directed by Bulelani Mabutyani and features a dynamic cast and creative team. Although thought-provoking and at times surprisingly hilarious, it is an instructive and entertaining drama about love, redemption and discovering one’s own power. Buzani, a professional nurse, author and playwright, delves into fractured families and the oppression and abuse women and girls suffer in a patriarchal society that perverts culture and tradition to facilitate their exploitation. The cast features the Magnet Theatre Youth Company: Azola Mkhabile, Buhle Stefane, Kuhle Myathaza, Lindokuhle Melaphi, Mihlali Bele,…

There is a new Covid-19 variant scientifically named BA.2.86, known by the worldwide community as Pirola, and it’s a descendant of the Omicron variant. What makes it stand out is its high number of mutations. The variant has approximately 30 mutations, about the same number that differentiated the highly transmissible and virulent Omicron variant from its predecessors. Scary as it may sound, there is good news. According to several laboratory studies, Pirola isn’t alarming on a cellular level, so the chance that the variant will lead to a massive Covid-19 surge as we have experienced in the past is small. The variant has reportedly been detected in the UK, US, Denmark, South Africa and Israel and it’s thought that the Pirola variant is the reason for a spike in…

The family of Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi has thanked the nation for the outpouring of love, support and kindness following the death of the traditional prime minister to the Zulu monarch, inkosi of the Buthelezi clan and the founder and president emeritus of the IFP. In a brief press conference, the family also thanked in particular King MisuZulu kaZwelithini, President Cyril Ramaphosa, former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe, Deputy President Paul Mashatile, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, and their families. They also thanked the president of the IFP, Velenkosini Hlabisa, and the entire IFP family, amakhosi and the Buthelezi clan “for their love and support during this extremely difficult time for our family”. The Buthelezi family further thanked Ramaphosa for declaring a Special Official Funeral, Category One, for the traditional prime minister…

GrandWest, NPO Living Through Learning and newly crowned Miss South Africa Natasha Joubert handed four mobile libraries stocked with accessories and 600 books, all worth R170 000, to Belhar Primary School. This forms part of GrandWest’s R438 000 investment in literacy projects for 2023 in schools around Cape Town. GrandWest and newly crowned Miss South Africa Natasha Joubert spent Friday morning reading to learners at Belhar Primary School to mark International Literacy Day this year. During the course of the morning, children participated in fun activities ranging from face painting to juggling, balloon sculptures, dancing and a magic show. They were served a delicious meal by GrandWest’s chef. “As adults, we know that knowledge is power, and the key is literacy, but for us, it goes beyond that. When children…

This week should be one of relative respite for the Springboks at the World Cup but that doesn’t mean they will take their foot off the gas against Romania in Bordeaux on Sunday (kick-off 3pm). Pool B is quite rightly referred to as the ‘Group of Death’, with Ireland and Scotland rivalling the Boks for top honours in the group, while a Tonga side boosted by some former All Blacks and Wallabies will be no pushovers. That means the poor Romanians are the whipping boys of the pool and after Ireland put 80 points past them at the weekend, the confidence of the eastern Europeans will be shot. And they can expect no mercy from the South Africans – Bok bosses Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber will ensure their players…

AIDEN Markram smashed a sparkling century as the Proteas bounce back from two consecutive defeats in the series with a much-needed 111-run victory over Australia in the third one-day international in Potchefstroom yesterday. The Proteas are slowly but surely starting to gel as a team after a frightening start to the international season, where they lost five consecutive games to Australia (three T20s and two ODIs). Yesterday’s triumph means that Temba Bavuma’s team are still alive in the five-match ODI series at 2-1, and are turning the corner at just the right time as the 50-over World Cup is only a few weeks away. The hosts posted an imposing total of 338/6, while the visitors were bowled out for 227 in the 35th over. The most positive signs from yesterday…

AFTER their futile attempts to win the CAF Champions League title over the last seven years, Mamelodi Sundowns cannot afford to come up short this season. In the last six seasons, Sundowns have been the most dominant club in South Africa, winning six Premiership titles in succession – an unprecedented record in the PSL era. While that told a story of the results that come with blending the right playing personnel with right coaching staff, Sundowns are not yet a well-oiled machine. A typical example of their shortcomings is the inability to take their local dominance into Africa, with the team having last won the Champions League in 2016. But it’s not that the Brazilians are not taking the competition seriously – they are just like any other team, struggling…

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, former entrepreneur Nelia Annandale paints a new chapter after a blaze forced her to close her business. Having handed over the reins of her beloved business earlier this year, Keedo’s founder, Annandale, announced the launch of her latest venture: a contemporary abstract art collection called Petrichor. As the founder of the highly successful kids’ clothing brand, her passion for investing in children and nurturing the planet over the last three decades has allowed her to channel her creativity through the popular designer clothing line for many years. The Cape Town visual artist’s path as an entrepreneur has always been driven by a belief in the power of education, care, and sustainability – particularly in relation to shaping a brighter future for the children…

The Special Investigating Unit and the Hawks are investigating high-profile individuals behind the looting and theft at Eskom. Head of the Hawks Godfrey Lebeya said their investigations into Eskom corruption flowed from a report initiated by former CEO André de Ruyter. De Ruyter had previously said he told Pravin Gordhan, the Minister of Public Enterprises, and Sydney Mufamadi, the national security adviser to President Cyril Ramaphosa, that high-ranking politicians were involved in corruption at Eskom. Mothibi and Lebeya said they had taken this report from De Ruyter to conduct investigations. Lebeya said they wanted to put together evidence linking prominent individuals to Eskom’s corruption. “There were also prominent and influential people who were mentioned. As the SIU indicated, there are names that have been mentioned in this report. We…

A 32-year-old man who was viciously assaulted in a Klerksdorp parking lot last week is fighting for his life in hospital. Hilton Pretorius sustained a brain injury during the assault, allegedly at the hands of Wernich Botha. He remains in intensive care. A second victim, PW Roos, sustained a shoulder injury and a concussion. IOL previously reported that while details around the assault are sketchy at this stage, police spokesperson Colonel Adele Myburgh said Botha was arrested days later after the incident was reported to police. According to Myburgh, information at police’s disposal indicates that Botha allegedly assaulted Pretorius and Roos, 44, in a parking lot at a shopping centre in Doornkruin, Klerksdorp. . A Back-a-Buddy page has been started to help with funding for Pretorius’s hospital bills. It describes…

A full bench of the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg has unanimously dismissed former president Jacob Zuma’s attempt to appeal against the setting aside of his private prosecution of President Cyril Ramaphosa. Zuma made an application for leave to appeal a July judgment that declared his private prosecution of Ramaphosa unlawful and unconstitutional and set it aside. In a brief virtual appearance yesterday, Judge Lebogang Modiba said the full bench had prepared a written judgment that would be made available later. Modiba said Zuma’s application for leave to appeal the previous decision was dismissed with costs. “I should mention, it’s a unanimous judgment,” Modiba said before the virtual court was adjourned. Zuma accused Ramaphosa of failing to take action against advocate Billy Downer SC for the alleged leak of his medical…

WOMEN on Farms Project (WOFP) is continuing its fervent and years-long campaign against the use of internationally-banned pesticides on South African farms. Scores of female farmworkers and dwellers marched against what they deemed “racist double standards” in the international pesticides trade. The march organised by WOFP to German pharmaceutical company Bayer demanded the company stop manufacturing pesticides banned in the EU but still being exported to Africa. A memorandum of demands addressed to its CEO was handed over. WOFP is a feminist-led women’s NGO based in Stellenbosch. The organisation has been working with female farmworkers and dwellers across the Western Cape since 1996 and in the Northern Cape since 2009. WOFP director Colette Solomon said the campaign was three-pronged: targeting the South African government; European producers of pesticides banned in…

ENGLAND flank Tom Curry has been handed an effective two-game suspension and will miss the World Cup Pool D matches against Japan and Chile, following his red card inside three minutes against Argentina on Saturday. Curry clashed heads with Argentina fullback Juan Cruz Mallia as he attempted to make a tackle from an upright position, and was initially given a yellow card by referee Mathieu Raynal, which was upgraded to red after a bunker review. The 25-year-old attended an independent disciplinary committee hearing in Paris yesterday and was handed a three-match ban, although he will be free to face Samoa on October 7 if he completes a coaching intervention programme – World Rugby’s “tackle school” – which he says he plans to do. A statement from World Rugby said: “The…

While most of the other teams at the Rugby World Cup have already tasted action, the strongest Tonga squad ever assembled have been biding their time in the calm of their Paris hotel by the banks of the River Seine. World Rugby’s 2021 eligibility rule change means the squad features World Cup winner Malakai Fekitoa and other former All Blacks Charles Piutau, Vaea Fifita, George Moala and Augustine Pulu, as well as former Wallaby lock Adam Coleman. They finally get their chance to test themselves against the best in the world when they take on top-ranked Ireland in a Pool B clash in Nantes on Saturday, when they hope to show some genuine class of their own. “It’s an incredibly exciting group of players to be working with. We’ve got…

Standard Bank interdict ruling on Friday INDEPENDENT Media and 30 other companies in the Sekunjalo group will hear on Friday if they are to avoid the “calamity” that would result if their business bank accounts were to be terminated. Yesterday, the group applied for an urgent interim interdict against Standard Bank in the Equality Court, sitting at the Western Cape High Court, to prevent the bank from closing its accounts on September 15. Judge Judith Cloete will deliver her ruling on Friday. The reasoning given by Standard Bank for the closure of the accounts was “reputational risk”, based on unfavourable reporting by rival media outlets. Sekunjalo Group’s counsel said the banking institution had also targeted the 31 applicants because of their affiliation with Dr Iqbal Survé. Survé is an entrepreneur,…

The presiding judge in the murder trial of soccer star Senzo Meyiwa insisted that he wants a notorious KwaZulu-Natal hitman to be attended to by a doctor after he complained of not feeling well yesterday. Through his attorney, advocate Zandile Mshololo, accused number five, Fisokuhle Nkani Ntuli, told the judge that he would like to seek medical attention. “My client informed me this morning that he’s not feeling well and we would like to request a postponement so that he could be taken to the hospital,” she said. State prosecutor George Baloyi didn’t oppose the postponement. However, Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng asked Baloyi to read Section 159 of the Criminal Procedure Act – that proceedings can still continue without an accused being present. Mokgoatlheng did this to indicate that despite the…

ANC MP Supra Mahumapelo and the leader of the African Radical Economic Transformation Alliance (Areta), Carl Niehaus, had a go at each other after the former voted for the removal of Busisiwe Mkhwebane as public protector. This was after Niehaus accused Mahumapelo of failing to stand with Mkhwebane in the vote, as he and others in the ANC had backed the public protector. The national legislature voted that Mkhwebane should be removed from office. The RET faction of the ANC has been complaining that the motion to impeach Mkhwebane was initiated by the DA, and the ANC supported it. Before the sitting of the National Assembly, the ANC ordered party members to toe the party line when voting. The motion to remove Mkhwebane from office required 267 votes from members…

An ANONYMOUS group of good Samaritans from Cape Town have driven the extra mile to warm the hearts of children who are beneficiaries of the Red Cross Children’s Hospital Trust. The group, which wants to remain anonymous so as not to take away from their act of kindness, organised a gathering of like-minded classic and car enthusiasts at the weekend to raise funds for the trust, with results exceeding their expectations. Speaking to the Cape Argus, one of the organisers revealed that the group had raised R300 000 for the Red Cross Children’s Hospital Trust from the afternoon gathering they dubbed the “Springrally23”. The Springrally23 saw approximately 70 classic and exotic cars, including new and classic Porsches, Ferraris, Aston Martins, Ford Mustangs and Chevrolet Corvettes, leave the community of Lourensford…

LYLE Foster scored Bafana Bafana’s solitary goal as they beat the Democratic Republic of Congo 1-0 in an international friendly at a cold Orlando Stadium in Soweto yesterday. It was a win that saw Bafana get back to winning ways after they drew their last match against Namibia at the same ground last Saturday. While Foster racked up his fourth international goal to continue with his form from club level for Burnley in the Premier League, Bafana are now unbeaten in their last nine games. That will augur well for South Africa’s Belgian coach Hugo Broos building up to the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers in November and the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals in Ivory Coast January. Before those matches, however, Bafana will play two more friendly internationals…

France head coach Fabien Galthie made 12 changes to the team who beat New Zealand in the World Cup opener as Anthony Jelonch makes a long-awaited comeback to face Uruguay in Lille tomorrow. Les Bleus, who are expected to finish top of Pool A after prevailing 27-13 against the All Blacks on Friday, welcome the return of No 8 Jelonch for his first cap since he sustained a serious knee injury in February in the Six Nations. In a total revamp of the loose trio, Jelonch will start alongside Paul Boudehent and Sekou Macalou, while Maxime Lucu takes over from Antoine Dupont at scrumhalf and Antoine Hastoy replaces Matthieu Jalibert at flyhalf. Melvyn Jaminet, who scored France’s last try against three-time champions New Zealand, starts at fullback and electric young…