Innehållsförteckning för 2022-12-02 från Cape Argus

The Western Cape’s biggest festival is back for another instalment and it promises to be a bigger and more exciting way to kick off December. Three days of non-stop family entertainment awaits the community when the Mitchells Plain Festival kicks off today. Patrons can look forward to a host of events, including a Cutest Baby contest, Miss and Mr Festival award, Glamorous Granny contest, comedy shows, local artists, DJs, competitions and a My Community Connects talent section. There will also be loads of entertainment for the kids, including an amusement park, jumping castles, face painting and open-air dance parties. The festival boasts big names including Robin Pieters, Salome, Vicky Sampson, The Temple Boys, The Rocketts, Jarrad Ricketts, and Vuvu Khumalo. Festival founder Rozario Brown, said: “This year’s DStv Kyknet &…

three puils were stabbed outside the Batavia School of Skills in Imam Haron Street on Wednesday. Western Cape Education Department (WCED) spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said the incident occurred at a bus stop after school hours. An 18-year-old male was arrested. “Four learners were involved. One 18-year-old learner in Year 4 allegedly stabbed three other learners. Two were 18-year-old Year 4 learners and one was a 16-year-old Year 3 learner,” Hammond said. She said the pupils were taken to hospital. Two were discharged on Wednesday afternoon, and one remained in hospital overnight in a stable condition . “The alleged perpetrator has been apprehended by police. The WCED is providing counselling support to the school community,” Hammond said. Police officer Wesley Twigg said Claremont police attended to the incident. He said…

Stellenbosch University recently received and made public the report on racism at the institution by former Justice of the Constitutional Court, Emeritus Justice Sisi Khampepe. The report details the findings of the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of Racism at the institution following two incidents of racial discrimination on campus earlier in the year. The incident of a white student urinating on the belongings of a black student in one of the male campus residences especially caused major upset for the university community and provoked a severe public uproar, prompting the university to review its actual progress with transformation. Endorsed and critiqued alike by commentators, the report offers findings regarding the role of institutional cultures, mechanisms and interventions that advance or frustrate transformation. This is, however, not the first such…

Tech billionaire Elon Musk said on Wednesday that one of his companies would in six months be able to implant a device into a human brain that would allow communication with a computer. The interface, produced by Musk’s start-up Neuralink, would allow the user to communicate directly with computers via their thoughts, he said. “We’ve submitted I think most of our paperwork to the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) and we think probably in about six months we should be able to have our first Neuralink in a human,” he said in a company presentation. “We’ve been working hard to be ready for our first human (implant), and obviously we want to be extremely careful and certain that it will work well before putting a device in a human,”…

In SCIENCE fiction – think films and TV shows like Interstellar and Star Trek – wormholes in the cosmos serve as portals through space and time for spacecraft to traverse unimaginable distances with ease. If only it were that simple. Scientists have long pursued a deeper understanding of wormholes and now appear to be making progress. Researchers announced on Wednesday that they forged two miniscule simulated black holes – those extraordinarily dense celestial objects with gravity so powerful that not even light can escape – in a quantum computer and transmitted a message between them through what amounted to a tunnel in space-time. It was a “baby wormhole”, according to Caltech physicist Maria Spiropulu, a co-author of the research published in the journal Nature. But scientists are a long way…

ALL in all, it’s been a sad week for South Africa. The findings by the Section 89 Independent Panel – that President Cyril Ramaphosa has cases of serious misconduct and violation of the Constitution to answer for – have all but confirmed our worst suspicions: the much-vaunted “new dawn” was nothing but a false dawn. We never got to see the major clean-up of the ANC, and eradication of corruption in government, that was promised. And now we know why. At the very least, Ramaphosa is guilty of not taking South Africans into his confidence about what really happened on his game farm, and the chain reaction of scandalous events it set off. Then again, he wasn’t exactly forthcoming with details of the rampant state capture taking place under his…

IF Mohammed Kudus’ exploits in the World Cup are anything to go by, then he should lead Ghana’s quest for vengeance against Uruguay tonight. It’s been more than 12 years since that night in Soweto after Asamoah Gyan missed a penalty kick following Luis Suarez’s handball in extra time. And yet Africa is still agonising over what could have been – given that Ghana were denied a spot in the World Cup semi-final on African soil. But with the two nations set to meet in a highly-anticipated group stage finale with a spot in the last-16 up for grabs, a lot is at stake. The two teams have deployed relatively new teams for the finals in Qatar compared to 2010 but the villain of Ghana’s loss, Suarez, is still in…

More police and law enforcement officers have been deployed in the Manenberg area to restore order after gang-related shootings that erupted on Wednesday and resulted in the death of three men. On Wednesday afternoon, a gunfight broke out between gangs on Duinefontein Road in front of the police station and spilled into another gang’s turf, resulting in retaliation by other gangs in the area. Police spokesperson Wesley Twigg said at 9.19pm three men, aged 21, 19 and 25, were shot and injured in Peta Court, leaving the 21-year-old with fatal injuries. Twigg said 10 minutes after the incident, police also responded to another shooting in Renoster Road, where a man was shot five times in the back at close range and succumbed to his wounds after collapsing on a bed.…

There alone rule freedom, equality, property and Bentham – is in fact a very Eden of the innate rights of man. Freedom because both buyer and seller of a commodity, say of labour-power, are constrained only by their own free will. They contract as free agents, and the agreement they come to is but the form in which they give legal expression to their common will. Equality because each enters into a relation with the other, as with a simple owner of commodities, and they exchange equivalent for equivalent, property because each disposes only what is his own and Bentham (Jeremy Bentham, British philosopher) because each looks only to himself. The only force that brings them together and puts them in relation with each other, is the selfishness, the gain,…

WITH reference to “Does the drop in South Africa’s unemployment rate really mean much?” (Cape Argus, December 1). Well it would mean something to the individuals who actually get a job. However, in the scheme of things it means nothing at all. The only province that seems to be taking up the slack is the Western Cape. The rest of the country is lagging behind and it looks like we will have more and more trouble in the new year. Every third quarter employment figures do pick up slightly as certain industries need to get everything done before the festive period. We also find that many firms take on temporary workers for this festive period and also take on temporary workers to complete contracts etc. These workers are then all…

The date for the new weed harvester to cut pond weeds at Zandvlei and also to remove algae has been set for late next year. The City said it had awarded the tender for a new weed harvester and that if this went as planned, the harvester was expected to be delivered within nine months. This comes after numerous delays in the procurement of the weed harvester, which was initially expected in August last year, then December, later postponed to early this year and then later in June. It is also the second tender that the City has awarded to deliver the weed harvester. In May, after failing to deliver the weed harvester as promised to the community, a replacement tender was advertised. This delay was due to the initial…

South Africa has notoriously high levels of violence against women. The latest police figures show that 10 818 rape cases were reported in the first quarter this year. The country has among the highest number of rapes in the world. How can gender-based violence (GBV) be reduced in South Africa? It’s important to understand the causes of GBV – with a focus on sexual violence – globally and in South Africa There are many contested theories. Louise du Toit, a Stellenbosch University philosopher, analysed these: Past-perpetrator violence. Social and economic exclusion. Injured masculinity or patriarchal politics (reaction to women gaining rights. Violence that is a condition of human existence (ontological violence). Poverty and loss of breadwinner status does not explain why men of all classes rape. If women’s…

US President Joe Biden greeted President Emmanuel Macron at the White House yesterday with full-scale military honours and a pledge to uphold the “unwavering” US-French alliance ahead of talks on Ukraine, China and a looming trade dispute. Service members from the marines, army, air force and even a detachment of soldiers in 18th century Revolutionary War garb paraded in front of the White House. Artillery fired off a 21-gun salute, sending puffs of white smoke into the clear, chilly December sky. Standing on a red-carpeted podium with Macron, Biden said “France is our oldest ally, our unwavering partner in freedom’s cause”. Like Biden, Macron noted that the two countries had stood side by side through many wars. Referring to the Western alliance helping Ukraine to confront the Russian invasion, Macron…

BRAZIL coach Tite is set to follow the lead of France and rest key players for their final World Cup group game against Cameroon tonight, with their place in the last 16 in Qatar already secure. The World Cup favourites meet Cameroon at the Lusail Stadium needing just a draw to secure top spot in Group G after starting their campaign with wins over Serbia and Switzerland. Even a defeat would not stop them topping the section so long as the Swiss fail to win at the same time against Serbia, but France have already shown that changing most of your starting line-up does not necessarily work out. The holders made nine changes for their final group game against Tunisia on Wednesday and put in a disjointed performance in a…

AUSTRALIA’S series loss to the Proteas in 2018 and all the drama associated with it may have been a chastening experience for the ‘Baggy Green’ brigade, but Dean Elgar doesn’t expect it to make the current Australian team a ‘soft touch’ in their three-match Test series. The ‘Sandpaper affair’, which caused ructions across the sport, led Australian cricket to undertake serious introspection. From pre-match handshakes to ‘elite honesty’, to Pat Cummins’s toothy grin, Australia have sought to sell themselves as a less boorish team. However, Elgar isn’t buying a new friendly approach from the Australians. “Purely because we are playing there, I think it will still be pretty feisty,” Elgar said. The first Test starts on December 17 at the Gabba, with the series then heading to Melbourne for the…

Skips family meeting as calls to resign mount PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa is living on borrowed time as a groundswell of voices from his opponents outside and from within the ANC call for him to resign. Ramaphosa kept the country on tenterhooks last night amid reports that he was expected to make an announcement during his customary “family meeting” timeslot. But, at the 11th hour, spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said that the president was “processing” the damning Phala Phala report, which could lead to his impeachment, and that an announcement was “imminent”. The three-member panel led by former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo found that Ramaphosa had cases of misconduct, corruption and violation of the Constitution to answer for following the theft of millions of dollars from his Phala Phala game farm in…

SEX workers could soon go about their business without sweating about prosecution as the Cabinet has moved to approve a bill seeking to decriminalise sex services. Presidency Minister Mondli Gungubele announced the proposal to decriminalise sex work when he presented the Wednesday Cabinet meeting’s outcome yesterday. The announcement went largely unnoticed and was overshadowed by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala scandal, with most of the questions posed to Gungubele focused on the Section 89 panel’s outcomes. Ramaphosa’s Cabinet approved the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill of 2022. The bill rescinds the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007 (Act 32 of 2007) to decriminalise the sale and purchase of adult sexual services. Gungubele said: “The proposals of this bill respond to the list…

Exactly 20 years ago, Hazel Tau became the first of 11 complainants to bring a ground-breaking complaint to the Competition Commission, alleging that the price of drugs to treat HIV/Aids in South Africa was excessive. So excessive that South Africa’s price ranged from 540% to 1 543% more than the best-priced generic available in the world. In 2002, the cost for a month of antiretroviral drugs that people needed to keep themselves alive was about R4 500 (Heywood, 2002). Remember that in 2002, South Africa had among the highest rates of HIV/Aids infections in the world. At the time, the Health Department reported that about one-in-nine South Africans (or five million people) were living with HIV/Aids in this country. Moreover, these were the days before the government started supplying HIV/Aids…

What a wonderful variety of opinions on Page 7 of the Cape Argus on December 1. At the top, the wise Brian Isaacs pointing out that “powerful non-racial organisations” can make for a freer world, and that “a people united can never be defeated”. Below that, an opposing view from Khotso Moleko, apparently trying to cause more racial division, based on an assumption that whites have a “love of power over animals” rather than just loving them. Really? Has Moleko never heard the phrase, “Dogs have owners; cats have staff”? The power dynamic doesn’t always work in favour of humans. Then the beautiful picture of the cat on Doha beach (skin colour of staff unknown; and irrelevant). Then, a letter from Cllr Adams, again pointing out how the death penalty…

Salvadoran digital newspaper El Faro’s employees filed a lawsuit in a US federal court on Wednesday against NSO Group, alleging the Israeli firm’s controversial Pegasus software was used to spy on them. The lawsuit was filed in California by 13 El Faro journalists and two administrative staff, represented by lawyers from the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. Pegasus was used to breach the phones of at least 22 people associated with El Faro, including the plaintiffs, compromising their communications and data, according to the complaint -- a copy of which was released by the Knight Institute. “Their devices were accessed remotely and surreptitiously, their communications and activities monitored, and their personal data accessed and stolen,” it alleges. “The attacks have compromised plaintiffs’ safety as well as the safety…

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an HIV prevention medication. It is taken by people who are HIV negative, so that if they are unknowingly exposed to HIV, the drug will prevent the virus from infecting them. The development of this method is important for South Africa because the country has a high rate of HIV infection. About 7.5 million people in South Africa live with HIV – about a fifth of the global population of people living with HIV. The current standard-of-care PrEP is a combination antiretroviral drug called tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine (TDF/FTC) that must be taken orally. This tablet has be taken daily for it to be effective, as research has shown. It has been available in South Africa since 2016 as part of demonstration projects and implementation studies. Since…

MOROCCO powered into the last 16 of the World Cup for the first time in 36 years yesterday with a 2-1 victory over eliminated Canada. Goals from Hakim Ziyech and Youssef En-Nesyri ensured the North Africans finished top of Group F ahead of 2018 World Cup runners-up Croatia. In another Group F match played at the same time, Romelu Lukaku missed a string of late chances as Belgium crashed out of the World Cup in the group stage after a 0-0 draw with Croatia which sent the 2018 runners-up into the knockout phase. Croatia had a penalty award controversially cancelled by VAR early in a largely uneventful first half. Morocco, who last reached the knockout stages of the World Cup in 1986, will face the runners-up from Group E in…