Innehållsförteckning för 2022-06-28 från Cape Argus

Silk Sonic and Will Smith scooped top prizes at the 2022 BET Awards. The annual ceremony celebrating black culture took place at Los Angeles’s Microsoft Theater on Sunday night, and this year Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak’s R&B supergroup was among the big winners. The duo’s debut album, An Evening With Silk Sonic, was crowned album of the year, while the Leave The Door Open hitmakers also took home the award for best group. Anderson won a third prize, video director of the year, meaning he became the most-awarded of the night. Doja Cat, Drake and Ari Lennox had led the nominations, but all came home empty-handed. Smith, who slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars earlier this year and was banned from the Academy Awards for 10 years, won the…

THE Eastern Cape Liquor Board has shut down the tavern in Scenery Park, East London where 21 teenagers were found dead on Sunday morning, pending investigations. This as the community, grieving parents, and officials held a prayer service at the St Peter’s Methodist church for the victims. Liquor board spokesperson Mgwebi Msiya said the tavern would not be allowed to trade until such time as the investigation was concluded and the board deemed it viable to reopen it. He said the board would file criminal complaints against the tavern’s owner for selling alcohol to minors, and aimed to intensify its efforts to promote compliance among the liquor traders in the area and the province. The board has petitioned Police Minister Bheki Cele for the permanent closure of the tavern.…

THE City has been criticised after stating that it was doing what it could to reduce the impact of flooding after the recent heavy rains, but that it was unable to assist flood victims from informal settlements on land that was “unsuitable for human habitation”. Human settlements Mayco member Malusi Booi said: “The City is unfortunately unable to assist people who settled in an area which is not conducive to human habitation or where flood mitigation measures do not work due to the land being waterlogged.” Booi said they had expected flooding incidents this winter to impact the informal settlements, which were created through many organised unlawful occupations on flood-prone areas such as in Dunoon, Khayelitsha, Kraaifontein and Mfuleni since the start of the national Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020.…

South Africa’s ongoing electricity crisis has again called attention to the urgent need for reliable, sustainable alternatives to the country’s heavily relied upon coal-generated power. In hopes of realising green hydrogen as one of these alternatives, massive support is being given to the Keren Energy Green Hydrogen Project. This proof-of-concept project, to produce green hydrogen at a site in Vredendal, was established by Sakhumnotho Group Holdings, Keren Energy Investments, Cape Stack, Namaqua Engineering and the South African Institute for Advanced Materials Chemistry at UWC. The groups involved sought to further the green energy sector by demonstrating the feasibility of producing green hydrogen using solar energy as an energy source. A 100kW photovoltaic solar system was installed to produce renewable energy that would in turn produce green hydrogen to be used…

LOBBY group Friends of Table Mountain has raised the alarm over the steady destruction of Table Mountain National Parks’ (TMNP) limited and treasured indigenous forests. The group said two areas of concern included the Newlands Forest, which it said was slowly but steadily being decimated owing to bark stripping, and the afro-montane indigenous forests above Kalk Bay in Echo Valley. Friends of Table Mountain chairperson Andy Davies said the bark was stripped off indigenous trees by poachers and sold to traditional healers “Trees are being ring barked which leads to their demise. While some poachers have been caught, the bark stripping is continuing and serious concerns are being raised by local activists about the permanent and significant damage to Newlands Forest. “We were alerted to the issue and asked Prof…

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has obtained a preservation order to freeze a luxury property owned by the former chairperson of the National Lotteries Commission, Professor Alfred Ntshengedzeni Nevhutanda. The SIU said the property is owned by Vhutanda Investments, a private company whose sole director is Nevhutanda. It is alleged Vhutanda Investments purchased the property for about R27 million in 2018, with money from the National Lotteries Commission (NLC). “At the time of the acquisition of the property, Nevhutanda was both the director of Vhutanda Investments and chairperson of the NLC board.” The SIU investigation has revealed that the acquisition of the property was funded by the non-profit organisations (NPOs) with money they had received under the auspices of grant funding from the NLC.…

In AN effort to help the small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME) sector recover after the pandemic, Shoprite has launched its all-new Shoprite Next Capital. Shoprite Next Capital will aim to give SMMEs access to the Shoprite Group’s consumer market. Shoprite believes that SMMEs are key contributors to job creation, growth and innovation. They are crucial to the recovery of the South African economy. Maude Modise, general manager for enterprise and supplier development, said: “With Shoprite Next Capital our aim is to further enhance the participation of small and emerging suppliers in our business. Our focus will be on their specific needs and how best we can assist them.” The overall aim is to build sustainable relationships for the development of SMMEs, to grow small South African businesses and increase…

Following a two-year hiatus thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, DStv and Mzansi Magic made sure to deliver a top-class production of the DStv Mzansi Viewers’ Choice Awards (DStvMVCA) at the Sun Arena in Pretoria. The blue carpet was filled with local celebrities and delegates who showed off their stunning outfits. Tshepi Vundla, Abdul Khoza and his wife, Batile Themane, Lorraine Moropa, Zola Nombona, Khutso Theledi, Thembsie Matu, Lasizwe Dambuza, and the stars of the upcoming Real Housewives of Cape Town were just some of the celebrities spotted on the carpet. The show kicked off with TV presenter Leanne Manas and the awards show host Lawrence Maleka, who took home two awards – Favourite TV Presenter and Ultimate Viewers’ Choice – hilariously bantering with one another. Boity, Mpho Wabadimo, PH,…

POLICE in Delft are investigating the death of a young woman whose body was discovered in a bag, tossed among overgrown reeds at the edge of an open field in Eindhoven, Delft. The discovery was reportedly made yesterday by a passer-by who alerted police. Police spokesperson Frederick van Wyk said police were searching for clues that could lead them to the woman’s killer. He said a man burning copper in the field saw a bag in the water and found the body inside. Van Wyk said the victim’s identify was not yet known, but she was estimated to be in her mid-20s. However, the Delft Community Policing Forum (CPF) said the community had uncovered the young woman’s identity. Delft CPF chairperson Charles George said: “We are waiting for the police…

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has called on the South African government to extend the R1.50 fuel levy reprieve amid the rising fuel costs and to relook at the management of the Road Accident Fund. With yet another fuel hike on the cards, South African citizens can expect to pay an estimated R1.75 extra a litre by July 6. Outa says the reprieve of R1.50, which had been in place to cushion the financial impact on consumers in April, May and June, should be extended further. On Monday, CEO Wayne Duvenage said it would be prudent of Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to extend the reprieve as the cost of living had increased dramatically since the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine. The conflict has seen the price…

South Africa’s construction industry is struggling. In its latest construction industry large sample survey, Statistics SA (Stats SA) reports that 118 000 jobs were lost between the end of June 2017 and the end of June 2020. The Stats SA Construction Report for 2020 also revealed that the total income for the industry decreased by 7.1% between 2017, when it stood at R470 billion, and 2020, when it was at R437bn. The report is a periodic assessment of construction enterprises conducted every three to five years which reports on the nature and structure of the construction industry. However, as Stats SA does not have enough data available to show the industry’s performance since the pandemic began in June 2020, they are unable to provide a clearer picture of the…

Complaints after crackdown in Gatesville THE City’s law enforcement unit has come under fire for its ongoing harassment of informal traders who say they just try to earn an honest living. On Saturday, in what the traders have described as “chaos”, City law enforcement officers descended on Gatesville and cracked down on illegal traders, confiscating goods and issuing fines. Tasneem Omar, an informal trader in the Gatesville area for 13 years, alleged that her daughter was verbally abused and threatened, and she was not given receipts for goods confiscated. She said it was the second time law enforcement had targeted her and she lost close to R10 000 in trading on both occasions. “I have been pushed up and down from the City offices and have been in the e-services…

The top 10 finalists in the Miss South Africa contest have been on a journey to learn about the origins of humankind, during their last group function ahead of the pageant finale. They also learnt more about their past under the guidance of a leading South African scientist,Dr Keneiloe Molopyane. Molopyane, known as South Africa’s underground astronomer is the principal investigator at the Gladysvale fossil excavation site, and the first woman of colour to head a dig in the Malapa Motsetse Nature Reserve s in the Greater Cradle of Humankind. This was the last official function undertaken by the Top 10 who now return home ahead of the pageant in August. Molopyane introduced the finalists to their ancient human ancestors unearthed on the reserve and housed in the Malapa Museum…

The establishment of a permanent First Nations indigenous heritage precinct within the development at the River Club at Observatory at the weekend received unanimous backing during a conference of indigenous leaders deliberating the restoration of First Nations descendants in South Africa. Conference delegates, who included leaders of the royal houses of the San, the Korana, the Griqua and all the major Khoi tribal and cultural councils, unanimously agreed to give their backing to the Western Cape First Nations Collective (WCFNC) in its social compact with the Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust (LLPT). WCFNC spokesperson Chief Zenzile Khoisan said delegates travelled from Upington, Kimberley, the Garden Route, the Cederberg, the Karoo, the Overberg and across the Cape Peninsula to participate in the conference, held in Rawsonville. He said the conference also resolved…

ACTIONSA President Herman Mashaba has called on the National Director of Prosecutions, Shamila Batohi, to pursue criminal charges against those implicated in the state capture report within seven business days. Mashaba says if Batohi fails to do so, he, as President of ActionSA and foremost as a citizen of the country, will personally lay criminal charges against those named in the report. ActionSA is specifically looking at legal mechanisms to fast track the state capture cases including the establishment of a Special Tribunal – “a body set up for the exclusive purpose of identifying cases of corruption that have not been investigated and pursued”, he said. “I will be writing to the National Director of Prosecutions, Shamila Batohi, to take the nation into her confidence about progress being made in…

Despite better-than-expected rains this month, farmers have been left fuming at Eskom’s load reduction and load-shedding strategies, which they say have had a negative impact on the country’s agricultural industry. Drickus Botha of the Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa (TLU SA) said load reduction was applied when there are one or more parties on a specific line who have not paid their electricity bill. “The electricity of the entire line is switched off and where we can work with load shedding according to a schedule and plan accordingly, the load reduction is not like that.” He said with load reduction, there is no indication of when the electricity supply would be restored and this amounts to “collective punishment” as innocent parties suffer. He said TLU SA had approached Eskom’s…

DIPLOMATIC missions are essential for the international positioning of the modern state, its well-being, and the fulfilment of its foreign policy objectives. The functions of a diplomatic mission indeed transcend the simply social and ceremonial commitments of cameo appearances around the canape scene in the receiving country and within international organisations. What is pertinent for most countries is the promotion and strengthening of agreeable relations between two states in the advancement of mutual interests in scientific, cultural, economic, commercial, and military fields. And after 1994, democratic South Africa was one country that eagerly craved economic stimulation that flows from beneficial relations with the global community. Previously, apartheid South Africa had enjoyed only a paltry number of diplomatic missions abroad. The number of South African high commissions, embassies, and legations totalled…