Innehållsförteckning för 2023-02-08 från Cape Argus

With overwhelming cries for the international community to assist following two major earthquakes affecting Türkiye and Syria, South Africa has joined over 45 countries in providing desperately-needed rescuers and aid. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday announced a three-month State of Emergency for the 10 affected provinces. As of yesterday the collective death toll had breached 5 000, with the number expected to grow as thousands remain missing and are believed to be trapped beneath collapsed buildings. In Syria, people could be seen using their hands to burrow through the rubble in search of any survivors. Getting aid to that country during an 11-year war has been a struggle, as Türkiye is one of the main channels for aid to come through. Monday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southern Türkiye and north-western…

Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula visited the Prasa construction site between Cape Town train station and Paarden Eiland train depot yeserday. The minister visited two sites where Prasa is focusing on building and creating jobs for residents, providing residential accommodation for students, and modernising its train depot. Prasa’s development manager Thamsanqa Hlongwane and acting regional manager Moseli Ntsiki said the CBD construction would serve the city’s residents with its 7 000m² of retail space and 3 400 beds for student accommodation. “The construction is set to have two phases. Phase one will be where student accommodation and retail space will be situated, with stores at the bottom and residential areas on the upper level. We are planning to be done with the retail space later this year as we are…

A country which was once looked at as a place of refuge and possible safe haven for Zimbabweans is gearing up for what is expected to be one of the largest exoduses of Zimbabwean nationals this year. This comes following a directive by Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi stating that the six-month extension granted for the Zimbabwean Exemption Permits (ZEP) until June 30 would be the final extension granted. According to the “Country Report: Complementary pathways and the Zimbabwean Dispensation Project” authored by Dr Fatima Khan, this will affect 178 000 holders of the temporary protection permit. The ZEPs were due to expire on December 31, 2022, but were extended last year. The ZEP was the government’s temporary response to the large numbers of Zimbabweans seeking to enter the country…

Your Opinion Page article: “Reality of youth inequality” (Cape Argus, February 6) is the first of five, and I’m sure many readers will follow the series avidly, because of the vital role our youth can play in saving our country from its downward slide. The authors correctly point out that any inequality of “stimulation, nourishment and care” will generally carry on for most of the child’s life, and that “enabling environments” are necessary to help those without access to resources. Sounds like a better use for R1 billion than the Spurs! And if the government is serious about dealing with inequality, some of the money should be spent on a Planned Parenthood campaign. This would make people aware that they could be condemning their children to inequality if they have…

The powerful earthquakes that hit Türkiye and Syria have prompted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to declare a three-month state of emergency in 10 provinces, as the death toll rose to more than 5 000. The devastating earthquakes hit the two countries in different intervals on Monday. Turkish authorities said about 13.5 million people were affected. Erdogan, according to Reuters, said that 70 countries had offered help in search and rescue operations, and that Türkiye planned to open up hotels in the tourism hub of Antalya, to the west, to temporarily house people affected by the quakes. He said the death toll in that country had risen to 3 549 people, raising the combined death toll in Türkiye and Syria to 5 151. President Cyril Ramaphosa…

Ghana’s domestic borrowing costs have soared. Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said on Monday that interest payments were consuming between 70% and 100% of government revenues. Other than default-stricken Sri Lanka, that is the worst statistic in the world, according to credit rating agency Fitch. Ghana’s public debt was 467.4 billion cedis (about R663.6bn) in September, of which 42% was domestic debt, according to the most recent central bank figures released last month. It is now more than 100% of the GDP, Ofori-Atta said on Monday, as he announced some of the plans the government hopes will bring that ratio down to 55% by 2028. The country is at high risk of debt distress, he said last month while presenting the 2023 budget. To introduce debt restructuring, the Ghanaian government announced…

one person was killed and more than 30 people mildly to critically injured in three vehicle crashes in the province, two of which involved taxis. The Emergency Medical Services group ER24 said in a statement the incidents occurred in fewer than five days in Stellenbosch, Klapmuts and Bridgetown. Yesterday, nine people were injured when a bakkie and two light motor vehicles collided on Polkadraai Road in Stellenbosch. ER24 spokesperson Russel Meiring said EMS officials arrived at 7.45am to find the vehicles on the road, and several people seated alongside. He said medics found that nine adults had minor to moderate injuries. Meiring said EMS officials treated most of the patients at the scene, then transported them to nearby hospitals. In a separate incident yesterday, 16 people were injured…

Despite the reintroduction of the ShotSpotter project in Hanover Park, the local community policing forum said gang violence and shootings continued. This was in response to safety and security Mayco member JP Smith reporting a 30% reduction of incidents recorded in the area. The gun detection system, which is in its second iteration after it was reintroduced to the two areas late last year, had received fierce pushback with the community policing forums deeming it ineffective and a waste of taxpayer’s money. The City budgeted R30 million for the current phase running for the next three years. Hanover Park CPF chairperson Khashiefa Mohammed said Smith’s claims of the 30% reduction of incidents in the area were untrue. She said there were more murders in the past month, with more shooting…

SANParks has responded to calls for a dedicated strategic biodiversity unit to be created for Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) to tackle the alarming increase in bark stripping and poaching. SANParks noted that bark stripping was not a new challenge, but had escalated in recent months. This follows a petition started by the Newlands Forest Conservation Group calling on SANParks to create a dedicated “Strategic Biodiversity Unit” to combat the crimes that were leading Newlands Forest to become bark-stripped at an alarming rate. Supporters said despite repeated appeals, SANParks was failing to take sufficient action. Megan Taplin, newly appointed manager of TMNP, said they were well aware of the scale of the problem and the fact that bark stripping was taking place in other areas as well. “SANParks already has…

I can hardly believe I am writing this column on a Sunday evening, a day when we had no load shedding. This is very notable because I refuse to follow trends in my quest to promote literacy and creative writing through this conduit. And load shedding, unemployment, and the proposed billion being considered as sponsorship for an English football club to promote tourism in South Africa doesn’t qualify as thought-promoting or creative-drive material. I shall venture away from the boring everyday gruel of disappointment and nominate the word “gesture” as a spur to prick the sides of my intent. (I am aware that any mention of that Scottish king’s name brings bad luck, but it is him I am referencing, in case you didn’t know). Actually, my theme was triggered…

As a lifelong pacifist, I discourage violence unless retaliation is necessary. Resolution, negotiations and reparation via material compensation is better, unless the opposing party’s behaviour is beyond reason and necessary action is required to save and secure life. For example, the City published an online article saying that “72 MyCiTi buses have been stoned over the past three months, the majority of these attacks along the N2 Express routes between the Civic Centre station and Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha. “The staggering number has a significant impact on the City of Cape Town’s ability to meet passenger demand on these routes as every bus with damaged windows needs to be withdrawn from the service for repairs that can take up to two days.” While parents in the area take a bus…

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan yesterday declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces devastated by two earthquakes that killed more than 5 100 people and left a trail of destruction across a wide area of southern Türkiye and neighbouring Syria. A day after the quakes hit, rescuers working in harsh conditions were struggling to dig people out of the rubble of collapsed buildings in a “race against time”. As the scale of the disaster became ever more apparent, the death toll looked likely to rise considerably. One UN official said it was feared thousands of children may have been killed. Thousands of buildings were toppled, hospitals and schools wrecked and tens of thousands of people were injured or left homeless in several Turkish and Syrian cities by the…

South Africa’s Zethu Myeki has come a long way from hitting balls across a football field in the Eastern Cape to establishing herself as one of the up-and-coming talents on the Sunshine Ladies Tour (SLT). Now in her fourth year as a professional since switching to the paid ranks in 2020, Myeki has already tasted victory in the Vodacom Origins of Golf women’s tournament at Mount Edgecombe in 2021, and has a handful of top 10 finishes to her name. It’s been a long journey for Myeki, now aged 29, who came across the game by chance at the age of 13, which is relatively late to the game for a future professional. “I started in 2007 in the Eastern Cape. I used to pass a soccer field to and…

As the investigations into the shooting of a 5-year-old boy from Manenberg continue, his parents say his condition remains the same at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital. Devonte Terry was shot in the head while playing in the streets on Saturday after being caught in a gang crossfire. A 17-year-old was killed in the same incident. According to police reports, unknown assailants pulled up in a vehicle in Seine Road at about 10am and fired shots towards Thames Avenue where Devonte and the teenager were standing. Devonte’s mother, Simone, said doctors were keeping him sedated and were closely monitoring his brain. “He is doing well but he is still the same, they have kept him sedated, and is sleeping, in a very deep sleep. The family has been…

Parliament’s tourism portfolio committee chairperson Tandi Mahambehlala yesterday told off South African Tourism (SAT) acting chief executive Themba Khumalo for his tone at his briefing last week on the proposed R1 billion sponsorship deal with Tottenham Hotspur. Mahambehlala (ANC) said Khumalo had spoken down to South Africans during last Thursday’s media briefing, as if he was addressing children. Khumalo apologised “unreservedly” to the committee for “coming across in a manner that was arrogant and probably over self-confident”, and said he had felt under pressure and as if he had been under a personal attack during the briefing. Khumalo and officials from SAT and the Tourism Ministry had been summoned by the committee to account for the controversial sponsorship deal that has raised the ire of South Africans and led to…

Eskom CEO André de Ruyter hinted to MPs that there is no end in sight to load shedding this year. The best that could be done to mitigate load shedding by two levels is by spending more on diesel, he said. De Ruyter and the beleaguered company’s officials appeared before the portfolio committees on public enterprises and mineral resources and energy, and select committee on public enterprises and communication joint sitting in the National Council of Provinces. According to a report De Ruyter presented, “all medium to long-term levers and Eskom’s generation recovery plan” were part of a two-year plan. In the interim, he said, the “most viable solution” to minimise load shedding was to make sure that Eskom had the cash to run its open-cycle gas turbines at their…

The South African Rugby Union has every right to withdraw an invitation to an Israeli club, but just be honest. You were afraid they would beat you. You hate Middle Easterners. You hate Jews. I can accept those excuses, but you are telling African children that apartheid was not so bad. You are saying that blacks sat on Africa’s Supreme Court, that most African pharmacists were black, that in every hospital one would see black, brown and white doctors, nurses and patients, and there were relatively more blacks in universities than whites. You are saying a black-headed Africa’s biggest bank, and another a major hospital. This is life for Israeli Arabs. If it was similar for African blacks under apartheid, then I apologise. Israel is indeed an apartheid state.…

The SA Rugby Union has made a grave mistake by banning an Israeli rugby team from taking part in this country. You never mix politics with sport and there will be major repercussions for the ANC government if they don’t reverse this ridiculous decision. First, they will turn all Jews in SA against watching the Springboks and will then start supporting the opposition, and second it will cause a racial divide in our country, when the ANC has always claimed to be neutral in religion. So please reverse this decision immediately, as we want to live in harmony and not be divided when it comes to religion.…

According to Net Zero Climate, “net zero refers to a state in which the greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere are balanced by removal of these gases out of the atmosphere”. For example, a company such as a steel mill emits carbon through the smelting process, something that requires burning vast amounts of coal and gas. To balance out their carbon emissions, the company commits to funding the planting of a few million trees in a protected area. The trees will absorb roughly the same amount of carbon that the steel mill emits. This would, in theory, allow the steel mill to achieve net zero emissions or carbon neutrality. The term net zero is important because this is the state at which global warming stops. The Paris Agreement underlines the…

MI Cape Town provided evidence in the inaugural SA20 season that sporting contests are never decided on paper. The Newlands-based team were blessed with an abundance of superstars, both South African and international, and a coaching staff that was littered with legends in all departments, yet they won just three of their 10 matches that saw them rooted to the bottom of the standings. For a team blessed with the amount of riches they have, it has been an unmitigated disaster of a first season. The only consolation for MI Cape Town is that their parent team, Mumbai Indians, suffered a similar fate in the maiden IPL season before forging a dynasty that has seen them become the most successful side in the history of that tournament with five titles.…

Erik ten Hag warned his Manchester United stars not to underestimate Leeds United in tonight’s Premier League clash after the relegation-threatened club sacked boss Jesse Marsch. The American was dismissed on Monday following a run of seven league games without a win, with Leeds only outside the relegation zone on goal difference. United’s only loss in their last 15 matches came against Premier League leaders Arsenal. But before the start of that run Ten Hag’s men were beaten by Aston Villa in Unai Emery’s first game in charge. “We have to be aware of that,” Ten Hag said yesterday. “When Jesse Marsch was in the lead, it was clear how they play. Now it’s possible they change - it’s also possible they don’t change. I think we only will find…