Innehållsförteckning för 2021-04-30 från Cape Argus

A MUNICIPAL official will spend the next four years in prison after the Oudtshoorn Regional Court sentenced him for corruption and fraud, the Hawks said yesterday. Frikkie van Staden, 45, a superintendent for the Oudtshoorn municipality’s road and parks department, was convicted and sentenced for fraud involving more than R1.9 million, Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani said. She said between 2010 and 2014 Van Staden, who was responsible for the maintenance of roads, among other responsibilities within the municipality, instructed his sister-in-law to register a company under her name. Van Staden took over the company’s operations to win contracts with the municipality without his sister-in-law’s knowledge, Hani said. He was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for corruption, of which three years were suspended on condition that he was not convicted of…

Nomalanga Tshuma nomalanga.tshuma@inl.co.za THE Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) is looking at ways it can raise awareness about illegal dumping in the CBD, This is in response to growing calls for the CCID to expand its clean-up campaigns and initiatives in the CBD from locals who have begun trickling back to work in the CBD over the past month, due to the relaxation of the Covid-19 lockdown regulations. CCID urban management manager Kally Benito said: “Besides the current cleaning initiatives by the CCID, we are looking into ways we can not only raise awareness about illegal dumping, but how we can reduce it by encouraging the businesses within the CBD to have current and active waste management contracts.” The CCID has several clean-up initiatives and projects in…

Sisonke Mlamla sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za MORE than 500 firefighters facing disciplinary hearings for refusing to “work as required” are seeking community and political intervention in a bid to stop the City from sanctioning them. Some of those firefighters were summoned to a meeting relating to their pending disciplinary hearing to communicate a speedy and amicable solution by the City’s acting executive director, Vincent Botto, at the Cape Town Stadium yesterday. SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) regional chairperson Mzoxolo Miselo said the City was still on the verge of disciplining 525 firefighters. The firefighters face disciplinary hearings for refusing to “work as required”. Their letters of notice from the City said they allegedly committed wilful gross misconduct when, from October 1 to 8, 2019, they took part in an unlawful strike…

Kristin Engel kristin.engel@inl.co.za ATHLONE High School has appealed for assistance from the public as it seeks to expand the offering of its music department. Since its establishment in 1947, the school has been a lodestar in the Athlone community. Now it seeks funding to not only expand the offering of its music department but to make music an official subject offered to school’s learners to stimulate their cultural and academic development. Athlone High principal Vincent Hendricks said it was unfortunate that his school was not an arts-focused. “There’s great value in giving our learners music education and it’s a shame they aren’t afforded that opportunity due to the music department being underfunded and under-resourced. “The difference music can make in a child’s life is enormous. It encourages children to…

MYTHS play a central role in all human societies, from those in continental Africa to those in Western Europe, from those on the steppes of Russia to those in the Asiatic triangle. If we wish to know and learn about how the world was conceived, how people worshipped and the ways in which they made sense of the world, we would undoubtedly tap into, for example, the continent of Africa’s oral traditions. Additionally, the universality of the role of ancestors and the importance accorded to funeral rites are two further examples associated with the continent. In Europe, on the other hand, we would need to analyse and interpret the role that the distillation of Greek mythology has played in Western societies over the millennia by examining its ancient roots. These…

Jean Michel Bouvier | Bryanston Last year, with much fanfare, South Africa imported Cuban doctors to help us combat the Covid-19 pandemic. That was in April, less than month after our first lockdown when we had practically no one in ICU and only 25 deaths. That move cost us a princely R400 million. Then the SANDF imported illegally, without disclosing, dubious and unproven medication despite a warning against its use by a top government advisory committee and breaking every law governing the importation and registration of medicines in South Africa. That little exercise, according to the auditor general, cost the taxpayer a whopping R260m and they almost had a shoot-out when the Hawks tried to confiscate them. Now it’s been disclosed that Minister Lindiwe Sisulu imported without approval…

CITY council speaker Dirk Smit announced his retirement during a full council meeting yesterday. Smit, who will be retiring after 45 years in public service, has been serving as speaker since March 15, 2006, and chaired the SA Local Government Association’s (Salga) Speaker’s Forum of the Western Cape since May 2011. Smit said it was an honour that during his tenure he could visit different municipalities across the country to assist them with procedures. He conveyed his gratitude to every councillor for their input and co-operation over the years, saying that even though there had been differences and disagreements, nothing was ever too difficult to overcome. Smit said he planned to spend his remaining years with his wife, Elna, and his family at his side. A special council meeting will…

President has chosen a path of patience and limiting risks – but is it working? President Cyril Ramaphosa’s testimony before a commission investigating state capture and corruption under his predecessor highlights the extent to which his presidency is mired in the mess left by former president Jacob Zuma. Corruption and abuse of state organs became so widespread on Zuma’s watch that it has become equated to the capture of the state. During his presidential term since February 2018, Ramaphosa’s main challenge has been to unwind and dislodge the Zuma legacy. This legacy also includes a polarised governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), which he leads. The party is divided by factional contestations following three national conferences starting in 2007, an economy in decline since 2009 and the ANC’s electoral…

ROME: Pope Francis issued a new decree yesterday mandating full economic disclosure and controls for Vatican managers, including cardinals, and stipulating that no one can accept personal gifts worth more than €40 (about R695). The practice of gift-giving among Catholic clerics has been the source of several scandals in the Church in recent years. The signers will have to declare that they do not hold, even through third parties, investments or stakes in companies listed as being at high risk for money laundering. Nor may they hold shares or other interests in companies whose policies are contrary to the Church’s social doctrine – an apparent reference to pharmaceutical companies and those which damage the environment. | Reuters…

Paris: The EU’s former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, who is tipped as a possible contender for French president, has said he will announce in the autumn whether he will stand in next year’s election. In an interview this week, Barnier hinted that he was interested in France’s top job, saying his skills “could be useful to put our country back on the straight and narrow”. Barnier is a possible unifying figure to lead the fractured French right into the election in which President Emmanuel Macron, a centrist, is expected to seek a second term in office. | AFP…

Kedibone Modise kedibone.modise@inl.co.za MORE than 365 days after the Covid-19 pandemic hit South African shores, leading to the national lockdown, the theatre industry continues to feel the pinch. Many performing artists around the country have been struggling as a result of not being able to work. A Facebook initiative, The Lockdown Recipe Storytelling Book, curated by a television host, writer and magazines editor Ingrid Jones has joined forces with the Baxter Theatre to help raise funds for the struggling artists. Elaborating on the project, Jones says: “The group, made up of over 3 000 South Africans worldwide, came together online with a single mission. ‘How will we remember this surreal, difficult time that sucked the life out of everything? We lost, and continue to lose, loved ones. We were forced…

ALLEGED Cape Town underworld boss Nafiz Modack was arrested by the SAPS Task Force at a Century City hotel yesterday afternoon. A police source said Modack’s arrest was in connection with the murder of Anti-Gang Unit detective Charl Kinnear outside his Bishop Lavis home in September last year. He has also been linked to a 2019 failed hand grenade attack on the home of the senior police officer. Today, the bail hearing continues for Amaal Jantjies who was arrested alongside Farez Smith and Janick Adonis. The trio have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and procuring explosives, relating to the hand grenade incident. Smith and Adonis have abandoned their bail applications because both are serving time for other crimes. Modack was arrested at the Crystal Towers Hotel in Century…

Sihle Mavuso sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za THE implementation of the ANC’s “step-aside” resolution, which has been in the making since August last year, has been delayed once again pending one more last nod. This time around, the resolution – which compels party leaders and senior members accused of wrongdoing and already criminally charged to step aside – needs the approval of the party’s national executive committee (NEC) and this is likely to delay the implementation process by at least a week. This comes as the list of leaders who have to step aside, as submitted by the nine provinces, has yet to go through the national working committee (NWC) and later to the NEC for the very last ratification. This was revealed by ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe yesterday after he was asked…

Staff Reporter Ayo Technology Solutions Ltd (AYO) was yesterday denied its application for urgent interim relief to prevent First National Bank (FNB) from indiscriminately terminating its transactional banking facilities. Gauteng High Court ‘s Judge Wright, ruled that FNB had sufficient contractual grounds on which to give a mere 60-days-notice to terminate its relationship with the JSE’s largest black-owned and managed ICT investment group and he, therefore, dismissed Part A of AYO’s application for an urgent hearing. Despite being fully aware of AYO’s public image, which has been tarnished by the media through a series of factually inaccurate articles since March 2018, FNB still opened an account for AYO in October 2020. The bank waited until mid-February 2021 to pull the plug on AYO’s account, citing reputational risk. AYO launched an…

Cllr Yagyah Adams | Cape Muslim Congress Since US President Joe Biden has accused Turkey of genocide in Armenia in 1915, we must revisit history. We must study how many innocent civilians were murdered globally by the British, the Americans and Russian imperial empires and their proxies since 1915. Let’s forget slavery and colonialism for now. Example, more than 510 000 Iraqi and Afghan civilians have been killed since the USA invasions. Since March 2003 to April 2019 the “Iraq Body Count Project” estimates that more than 200 000 innocent Iraqi civilians were violently killed, since the USA invaded Iraq. More than 310 000 civilians have been killed since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan by the USA. The excuse for invading Afghanistan was that the authorities refused to…

Shakirah Thebus shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za THE plight of domestic workers, farmworkers and informal traders, was raised in calls for an extension of the Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant, proven to be a lifeline during the pandemic. The Black Sash and #PayTheGrants hosted a virtual press conference yesterday concerning the SRD grant coming to an end today. The special R350 grant was one of the major Covid-19 mitigating measures put in place as the country entered into a hard lockdown, later extended into 2021. Countrywide protests are expected to take place today. #PayTheGrants Gauteng co-ordinator General Alfred Moyo said protests would start at 11am at several South African Social Security Agency and post offices. #PayTheGrants’ Shaeera Kalla said the conditions the grants were meant to ameliorate had not changed. Kalla…

Encrypted messaging app Telegram is all set to introduce group video calls for its users in May, including support for web-based video conferencing. Telegram chief executive Pavel Durov made the announcement via a message posted to his official Telegram channel where he wrote “we will be adding a video dimension to our voice chats in May, making Telegram a powerful platform for group video calls”. “Screen sharing, encryption, noise-cancelling, desktop and tablet support – everything you can expect from a modern video conferencing tool, but with Telegram-level UI, speed and encryption. Stay tuned!” he added. The company originally planned to add the video call feature to its messaging service at some point in 2020. Telegram often taunts rivals over their tardiness to add new features but on video calls it…

Umberto Bacchi A few weeks into Italy’s first coronavirus lockdown in March last year, Andrea Pestarino started setting a 5.30pm alarm as a reminder it was time to turn off his laptop and go play football with his kids in the garden. The 42-year-old innovation manager said the trick helped him strike a better work-life balance after his engineering firm’s sudden move to remote work pushed him to spend longer hours glued to the computer screen. “At the beginning switching off was difficult, as I felt guilty for being away from the office and this prompted me to do more," Pestarino said by phone. “I used to bring forward things that I could have easily done the next day.” Research in several countries has shown the pandemic-induced shift to…

Tomorrow marks International Workers’ Day, or May Day as we have come to know it. Twenty-seven years into democracy, the struggles of the working class have yet to end. The hope that many South Africans held on to post ’94 – for an equal society in which all can work and live – seems elusive now more than ever as unemployment figures rocket. The unemployment of almost 8 million people leaves one wondering if the policies presented by the ANC to eradicate joblessness are worth their salt? Over the last two decades, the ANC has seemingly battled to introduce a sustainable model to create jobs in the country. For instance, at his first State of the Nation Address in 1994, then president Nelson Mandela shared his government’s vision, saying: “A…

LONDON: The UN sexual and reproductive health agency UNFPA yesterday said Britain’s “devastating” plan to slash its annual funding would lead to some 250 000 more deaths around the world. Britain has told UNFPA it will implement an approximate 85% cut to the agency’s flagship programme for family planning, contributing £23 million (R460m) this year instead of its original commitment of £154m. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he believed people “will understand” the cuts in light of spending pressures brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. “We are still one of the biggest donors in the world and I think people in this country should be very proud of that,” he said. | AFP…

N’DJAMENA: Chad’s army battled with rebels yesterday near the town of Nokou, about 20km from where former president Idriss Déby was fatally wounded 10 days ago, rebels and the army said. Déby was killed on April 19 as he visited troops fighting Libya-based rebels from the Front for Change and Concord in Chad, which opposed his 30-year rule. A military council headed by his son took control of Chad after his death, a move which opposition politicians have condemned as a coup. The rebels issued a statement yesterday saying they had taken control of Nokou, centre of the north Kanem district, some 300km from the capital N’Djamena, after destroying an army attack helicopter that had bombed their position. | Reuters…

KAILENE PILLAY and ZINTLE MAHLATI PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa faced questions at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture with regard to Parliament's oversight during the state capture years, party funding and its relation to state capture, in particular, his CR17 campaign. He was also quizzed about the R500 000 donation his campaign received from facilities management company Bosasa. Ramaphosa, testifying as ANC president, attempted to distance himself from the administration of his campaign, saying his colleagues had decided not to involve him. He could recall that a colleague had approached one of the Watson brothers for a personal donation to his campaign and that his colleague understood that the funds would come from Bosasa chief executive Gavin Watson but he now knew that it was from Bosasa. He…

Shakirah Thebus shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za THE man arrested in connection with the blaze that started on the slopes of Devils Peak last week, was released on bail, after charges of arson had been dropped. The accused, Frederick Mhangazo, 35, appeared at the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday afternoon. National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila confirmed the charge of arson had been changed. Mhangazo, a Tanzanian national, was instead charged with contravening the National Environmental Management Protection Areas Act, by lighting an open fire without proper authority. “The accused could not be linked to arson. He was granted bail and bail was set at R500.” Ntabazalila said the case had been postponed to June 18 this year, for further investigation. Mhangazo was homeless at the time of his arrest. Previously,…

While the Zondo commission rolls on revealing systemic corruption and the president tries to assure the nation that the ANC has turned over a new leaf, the lies and obfuscation continue unabated. Instead of just coming out and admitting that the reason for bringing out the Cuban water engineers is to repay a debt for the Cuban help during the Struggle years, spokesman Sputnik Ratau from the Department of Water Affairs invents all manner of explanations and justifications. Mr Ratau’s justifications are simply fallacious, all lies. The engineers do not possess any skills that our local engineers possess. Cuba is not by any measure a world leader in water treatment and water technology. On the contrary, in Cuba you are advised to drink bottled water and most of the tapped…

Sisonke Mlamla sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za Equal Education (EE) and the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) have dismissed claims by Education MEC Debbie Schäfer that they are unwilling to help resolve the school admissions crisis. The groups said Schäfer must fulfil her responsibility to develop long-term solutions to the yearly admissions crisis instead of making false claims about them. In a statement, the groups said last week Schäfer had claimed that EE had not provided the Western Cape education department (WCED) with “any verifiable data” on the number of pupils in the province who had not yet been enrolled at schools. “This is most unfortunate as we (the WCED) had hoped to have assistance in this regard,” she said. EE and the EELC said they wanted to put it on record that Schäfer’s…

Natasha Winkler-Titus The workplace and modes of working have come into the spotlight amid Covid-19 lockdowns that have enforced remote working as the new norm for most businesses. Companies have had to review their practices to accommodate a hybrid-approach which allows employees to spend some time in the office to create social work experiences. Research suggests that the pandemic could also shape other future workplace trends. Two trends stand out: the rise in telework and virtual collaboration on the one hand and the increasing divide between formal and informal work on the other. The Covid-19 pandemic has reminded us about the great divide between “them” and “us”, inequalities, and exploitation in informal workplaces. The dire reality of unemployment is a major challenge. Joblessness is exacerbated by the use of…

India’s total Covid-19 cases passed 18 million yesterday after another world record number of daily infections, as gravediggers worked around the clock to bury victims and hundreds more were cremated in makeshift pyres in parks and parking lots. India reported 379 257 new infections and 3 645 new deaths yesterday, health ministry data show for its highest number of deaths in a single day since the start of the pandemic. The world’s second most populous nation is in deep crisis, with its hospitals and morgues overwhelmed as health-care professionals struggle to cope with streams of patients. Mumbai gravedigger Sayyed Munir Kamruddin said he and his colleagues were working non-stop to bury victims. “I’m not scared of Covid, I’ve worked with courage. It’s all about courage, not about fear,”…

ANKARA: Recent rumours that billionaire Bill Gates had bought 22 000 acres of agricultural land in Thrace – the ancient name of the European part of modern Turkey – ignited a rush by landowners to try and sell their land at exorbitant prices to Turks residing abroad. Some listings are cited as having shot up to 8 000 euros per parcel. However, there do not seem to be records of land being registered under the name Gates or the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation . The Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Ministry has refuted the claims. | Sputnik…