Indholdsfortegnelse for 2024-05-17 i Cape Argus

Stellenbosch is the perfect place to enjoy good weather, live music and, of course, great tasting wines. And what better way to spend a day than by enjoying the soulful sounds of Matthew Mole. The celebrated South African artist is known for his distinctive blend of folk and electronic music. He will be in his home town this weekend to serenade fans in Stellenbosch with songs from his album Wake Up, It’s Morning. They include Always By My Side, See Me Again and Wake Up. The album has already amassed an impressive five million Spotify streams to date. His 2013 debut album, The Home We Built, made history by claiming the number 1 spot on iTunes SA, a testament to his widespread appeal. His second album, Run, also soared to…

PLANS to build more than 800 social housing units in Woodstock have been dealt a blow after an independent tribunal set up by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport overturned a decision by Heritage Western Cape (HWC) to allow the City of Cape Town to move ahead. The tribunal’s decision comes after the City was given the green light by HWC in September last year to develop 160 social housing units at the historic Castle Bowling Green in Earl Street, along with 700 units at the adjacent former Woodstock Hospital. However, this decision was met with opposition by some residents of Woodstock, who lodged an appeal that led to the tribunal process. After deliberations and site visits, the tribunal overturned HWC’s decision, dashing the hopes of many who were…

WHILE more than 26 million people rely on the ANC government for social grants, more than half of them will not vote for the party in the May 29 elections. This is according to the Centre for Social Development in Africa, which released research this week revealing that more than 50% of social grant beneficiaries supported opposition parties rather than the ANC. The party has been on the campaign trail trying to persuade voters that it’s the right party for the job. This week President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the National Health Insurance Bill, while the country hasn’t experienced load shedding in over 50 days. Social media has also been abuzz with videos and pictures of ANC politicians washing and hanging up voters’ clothes to dry while on the campaign…

POLICE Commissioner Thembisile Patekile said they were on the trail of gangsters who opened fire at 14 officers performing their duties in Kleinvlei on Wednesday. At about 8.45pm, members of Kleinvlei police were busy with crime prevention duties in Ukraine and Essenhout streets in Forest Village when they came under attack. Police spokesperson Wesley Twigg said: “According to reports, unknown armed suspects opened fire on the police members while executing their duties. The members returned fire. We can confirm that two private vehicles and three police vehicles were damaged during the shootout between the police and the suspects. No loss of life and no injuries were reported. Kleinvlei police are investigating attempted murder and attacks on police cases.” Patekile condemned the attack on the police. “Four of our vehicles were…

The DA has suffered a setback just days ahead of the May 29 election. The governing party in the Western Cape has made “the Western Cape works” a slogan of its election campaign, flaunting its employment figures and placing emphasis on job creation as a key part of its plan to “rescue South Africa”. It was thus a rude wake-up call when the first quarter unemployment numbers for 2024 were released by Stats SA this week. The national unemployment rate had risen by a worrying 0.8% to 32.9%, or by 330 000 to 8.2 million people. But rather than bucking the trend, the Western Cape was the biggest culprit, shedding 18 000 jobs in January to March, more than any of the other provinces. And this during the summer period…

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned what they cast as increasingly aggressive US behaviour yesterday and pledged to deepen their countries’ already close defence and military ties. In a clear snub to Washington, whose top diplomat flew into China last month to try to persuade Beijing to scale back its relationship with Moscow, Xi signalled Beijing and Moscow saw eye to eye on a range of important issues, including on Ukraine, and would resist Western pressure to downgrade their ties. “The China-Russia relationship today is hard-earned, and the two sides need to cherish and nurture it,” Xi told Putin. “China is willing to ... jointly achieve the development and rejuvenation of our respective countries, and work together to uphold fairness and justice in the world.” A…

Stellenbosch FC’s match against reigning Premiership champions Mame- lodi Sundowns tomorrow (3pm kick-off) has been moved to the austere Athlone Stadium, which has fond memories for the Danie Craven Stadium-based side. The PSL, the guardians of the Premiership, have learnt a lesson from last month’s Nedbank Cup semi-final between Stellenbosch and Sundowns at the Winelands venue. After the final whistle, there was a pitch invasion and broken fences around the Danie Craven Stadium. The switch of venue is a good omen for Stellies. It was at the Athlone Stadium that Sundowns last lost a match against domestic opposition when Stellenbosch inflicted a 2-1 defeat on the Tshwane giants in last year’s Nedbank Cup quarter-final. This time, the teams will have different agendas for the match, which will be the…

Nomzamo Mbatha, pictured, is thrilled to have starred alongside Hollywood actor Bruce Willis in the sci-fi thriller, Assassin, which premiered on Showmax this week. In the film, which was Willis’s final movie, the local actress stars as Alexa, a woman on a mission to uncover the truth behind her lover’s mysterious demise. In a recent interview, Mbatha said that portraying this type of character allowed her to navigate complex emotions, which included profound grief and hope. “For me, it was the idea of grief, but not grieving for someone who has left the earth, but rather for someone who still has a chance to come back to me,” she was quoted as saying. “But there’s also the complexity of hope, the hope that he will get better, that he will…

AN EERSTE River family were overjoyed after a miraculous reunion with their aunt, who disappeared without a trace more than 20 years ago. Family of Jeanette van der Horst, 54, say they were shocked when her face suddenly appeared on a flyer on Tuesday after more than two decades of searching, as the teams from The Pink Ladies Missing Persons Organisation sought out her family. The sickly woman was last seen in 2000 after the tragic death of her young son. Pink Ladies representative Nadiema Salie says they were called to the Elsies River police station on Tuesday afternoon amid requests by police to help locate the family of the woman. “A passer-by saw the elderly lady roaming the streets disoriented and decided to pick her up and drop her…

University responses to the war in Gaza headlined news reports over the past weeks, most notably on a recent decision by the Senate – the penultimate academic oversight body at universities – at Stellenbosch University. It rejected a motion to condemn the destruction of academic institutions and call for an immediate ceasefire, among others. The argument that won centred on academic freedom, meaning that a university should protect the freedom of diverse views rather than take singular positions as if it is a political lobby. The decision was widely condemned, with Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology leading the charge. The minister rejected the decision, declaring it to be shameful, blatantly racist, repugnant and one “that takes us back to the dark days of apartheid”. In…

Zimbabwe’s UFC star and philanthropist Themba Gorimbo is no stranger to adversity, but the latest has befallen him just days before he steps into the hallowed octagon. Since signing with the planet’s most popular MMA promotion, the star, who was born in the Bikita district of Masvingo, has had to fight while struggling with the flu and competed with only $7 in his bank account at one stage. But just yesterday, it was evident that Gorimbo – who built his MMA career in South Africa – was facing another tough situation as he broke down during a UFC media interview while releasing the news of his wrestling coach’s mother’s passing. Gorimbo will make his fourth appearance in the Ultimate Fighting Championship tomorrow at UFC Fight Night: Barboza v Murphy in…

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa offered condolences and said there would be compensation for those involved in the “catastrophic disaster” of the George building collapse. He made the announcement during a meeting with officials and affected families while visiting the area yesterday. Rescue workers and other role- players have been on site for over 10 days yesterday following the incident at 75 Victoria Street in George. Of the total of 81 workers on the construction site when the building collapsed on 6 May, 33 have been confirmed deceased (27 men, six women) and 12 people are currently hospitalised. Nineteen people are unaccounted for, while 47 victims have been linked to their families. An estimated 2 500 tons of building rubble has been removed from the incident site, and about 500…

WITH elections in less than two weeks, and possibly the final meeting of his provincial executive, Premier Alan Winde presented what he refers to as the “WCG Record of Delivery” – a list of accomplishments his administration has made over the past five years. But the DA’s opponents inside and outside the provincial legislature have poured cold water on the report, pointing to specific failures of Winde’s administration. One of the boasts in the report was that the Western Cape’s unemployment was the lowest in South Africa at 20.3%. “Unemployment dropped by 2.2 percentage points from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the fourth quarter of 2023, which was the biggest decrease in South Africa, and employment increased by 161 000 jobs, or 6.2% year-on-year,” reads the report. On…

FOUR more City officers came under attack as they tried to arrest a taxi driver in Milnerton. The Taxi Enforcement Unit (TEU) on Tuesday spotted a driver obstructing the road. When, according to safety and security Mayco member JP Smith, the officers tried to issue him a fine, the driver became aggressive. “They called for backup and tried to arrest him, a second taxi pulled up, he resisted arrest, they both assaulted the officers. “Both taxi drivers were criminally charged, including with assault and resisting arrest.” Smith said that in all six enforcement services officers had come under attack in the execution of their duties. “In Hout Bay, a group of men assaulted two law-enforcement officers on Monday while they were issuing a fine for an amaphela taxi found to…

AMONG the achievements of the sixth Parliament that will be remembered as a first in the history of Parliament is the successful removal of the head of a Chapter 9 institution – advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, now the former public protector (PP). The committee exercised its mandate successfully despite several disruptions resulting from challenges, including several postponements. Following a motion adopted in the National Assembly (NA) on April 7, 2021, the Committee for Section 194 Enquiry into Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office was established. The charges in the motion included allegations of misconduct relating to a PP report involving the South African Reserve Bank and ABSA Bank; misconduct relating to the investigation and reporting on the Vrede Dairy Project;…

WATCHING Proteas youngster Tristan Stubbs bat for the Delhi Capitals in the IPL brought a smile to the faces of many South Africans as the T20 World Cup is right around the corner. Almost every South African has never doubted the talent and power that Stubbs possesses as the country has watched the youngster hit long balls down in Gqeberha for the past three seasons. However, what many Proteas fans would’ve been worried about, like with any powerful batter, is his ability to score runs against smart teams, captains and bowlers. It is one thing to go out in the middle, swing at everything and hope it catches the middle of the bat. That method almost never works against a smart bowler who has the advantage of video analysts to…

EVERY now and then the systems in place in South African cricket actually produce talent from environments many would not have gone to in search of talent. As much as the systems running the game in the country are often questioned, they do present opportunities to players, and East London-born wrist spinner Nqaba Peter is a prime example. Peter was spotted bowling to the Proteas in the nets at Buffalo Park during the ODI series against West Indies last year. Just like that, the youngster was on his way to sign his first major professional contract as he joined the Lions in Johannesburg. A little over a year later, the 22-year-old is set to don the green and gold when South Africa take on West Indies in three T20s in…