Innehållsförteckning för 2023-03-09 från Cape Argus

City subcouncil releases quarterly report With winter approaching and a looming court hearing on the fate of homeless people, a City report said its officials had received 3 943 complaints about homeless people’s conduct across the city’s four districts in three months, from October to December. The Cape Argus recently reported that in February the high court granted the City’s application for eviction notices to be served at several occupied sites in the CBD, with the City vowing to serve notices before the next court hearing in April, where they expect the court to grant a final eviction order. The court case applied only to homeless people in the CBD – for now. According to City reports, the most complaints came from Area North, with 1 896; Area…

A 20-year-old woman from Philippi has been left traumatised after a rather bizarre attempted robbery during which she and two of her schoolmates were accosted by gun-wielding criminals demanding used sanitary products and contraceptive implants. The woman, who cannot be named, alleges that while they were on their way home from night school the criminals inserted their fingers into their private parts in a bid to remove any tampons or pads themselves. The distraught victim said that on the evening of February 25, after 7pm, they were approached by two men carrying guns as they left Sinethemba High School in Sagwityi Street. “They asked us if we were on our menstrual periods and said they were looking for used sanitary pads and implants. We told them we had no…

In concluding his recent Budget speech, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said: “Uncertainty is on the rise”. Godongwana called for bold action, but did not provide any time constraints or a proper bold way forward. As seen in the State of the Nation Address, there are no timelines or deadlines. The portfolio committee on employment and labour met on February 22 to discuss the possibility of unpacking the State of the Nation Address (Sona). Once again, this committee did not indicate any deadlines on anything. I specifically asked the Employment and Labour Minister and the Director General of the Department of Labour to put some timelines on some of the issues they were discussing. There was a loud silence from them. One of the most pressing issues arising from the destruction…

Public discourse has been focused on the role of the new ministry of electricity, but what is ignored is that curious ministry located in the Presidency for “planning, monitoring and evaluation”. If there’s a ministry that is useless, it is this one. What does this ministry plan? There are already government plans to be implemented by each ministry. Ostensibly this ministry monitors what other ministries are doing. But for what purpose? Does the country really need a minister and deputy minister to watch what other ministries are doing? Why not just an administrative unit within the Presidency to do this? What about evaluation? Ostensibly, this means that this ministry assesses whether the other ministries are performing or not and report to the president to take appropriate action. But the reality…

Kyiv: European and US intelligence officials have obtained tentative intelligence to suggest a pro-Ukrainian saboteur group may have been behind the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year. German investigators believe the attack on the pipelines was carried out by a team of six people, using a yacht that had been hired by a company registered in Poland and owned by two Ukrainian citizens. The information has been shared between European intelligence agencies ito establish who carried out the undersea bombings in September last year. Yesterday, Germany suggested that the attack could also have been a “false flag” operation to blame Ukraine. | IANS…

The family of slain Rocklands High pupil Zanton Basson say that the justice system has failed them after his alleged killer was granted bail. Micarlo Grove, 22, appeared at the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court yesterday, where he was granted bail of R5 000, following his arrest in connection with 17-year-old Zanton’s murder. Grove, a friend of Zanton’s, is accused of stabbing the teenager in the chest after he corrected him for being rude to an elderly person. The altercation took place at Westgate Mall in November. Zanton later died in hospital from his wounds. Grove applied for bail last month, when his lawyer told the court that his client should be granted bail as he was a first-time offender, has a child, and was his family’s breadwinner. However, it took…

The NATIONAL Freedom Party (NFP) leader in Parliament, Ahmed Munzoor Shaik Emam, said he hopes to see other countries follow suit, after Parliament overwhelmingly voted in favour of downgrading its embassy in Israel. The motion was passed by Parliament on Tuesday with 208 votes in favour and 94 votes against, which the NFP referred to as a historic resolution and moment. The ANC, UDM, EFF, African Independent Congress, PAC, and Al Jama ah had supported the resolution, with opposing votes by the DA, African Christian Democratic Party, Freedom Font Plus and IFP. Shaik Emam, who introduced the resolution, said: “The South African embassy now in Israel needs to be downgraded into a liaison office and that is solely for the purpose of people travelling to and from the country. “We’re…

Around 2009 I responded to the then-health minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s assertion that private medical care was much more expensive than public medical care. I answered that it was true that patients paid more in private care, but that this was very misleading and drew attention to some relevant facts and studies. Procedures used to compare costs are not equivalent. A fair comparison would compare overall hospital costs per patient after controlling for differences in the reason for treatment (type of problem), the severity of the condition (number of days admission involved), and the risks involved (extra procedures or expertise necessary to counter these). Innovative Medicines South Africa conducted such a study, and found that private hospital costs were 1 438 times more expensive than public hospital costs before but 1.053…

Facing attacks, arrest and discrimination in Tunisia, sub-Saharan African migrants are fleeing the country as a government crackdown on illegal immigration spirals into vigilante violence against black people. In the weeks since the Tunisian government began rounding up sub-Saharan Africans unable to furnish residency papers – and since President Kais Saied made racist and xenophobic remarks echoing the white-nationalist “great replacement” conspiracy theory – migrants have been attacked on the streets, thrown out of their homes, and suspended or fired from their jobs. Saied, elected in 2019 and who has since consolidated power and presided over a crackdown on his critics, in February turned his ire on sub-Saharan Africans in the country, accusing them of a conspiratorial plot to change Tunisia’s demographics to make it “only an African country that…

ROME: A fourth suspected human trafficker had been arrested in connection with a shipwreck off southern Italy last month in which at least 72 people died, an Italian police official said yesterday. The 27-year-old Turkish national was caught in Austria after escaping the scene of the disaster in the early hours of February 26, the official said. Three alleged traffickers, one Turk and two Pakistanis, were detained. The wooden boat, crammed with an estimated 180 migrants, set sail from Turkey on February 22 and broke apart on rocks five days later within sight of the village of Steccato di Cutro. | Reuters…

BRUNO Fernandes will continue to captain Manchester United in Harry Maguire’s absence despite being criticised for his performance in the 7-0 loss to Liverpool, manager Erik ten Hag said ahead of a Europa League knockout tie against Real Betis. United travelled to Anfield on an 11-match unbeaten streak but suffered the club’s worst defeat since losing 7-0 to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1931, with some former players saying Fernandes should lose the captaincy for his petulant performance. When asked if Fernandes would continue to lead the side when needed, Ten Hag yesterday said: “Yes, definitely. “I think he is playing a brilliant season and he has played a big role in us being where we are,” the Dutch manager added ahead of tonight’s last 16 first-leg clash at Old Trafford. “He’s…

SPAR Proteas captain Bongi Msomi is hoping that 2023 will not just be a year to remember for netball but for women’s sport all around. This year has been dubbed ‘2020-she’ as women’s sport takes centre stage with several tournaments in different codes taking place. Just last month the Proteas Women were in the T20 final against Australia, which meant they became the first ever senior cricket team to reach an ICC World Cup final. Later this year Banyana Banayana will be in action at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Desiree Ellis’ team will be hoping they can replicate the heroics that saw them win the Women’s Afcon last year. Msomi says she is extremely proud to be part of, and leading, the Proteas to the World…

Mohale Motaung’s latest business venture, a cocktail lounge, has caught the attention of social media users who want to know where he got the money to fund it. Motaung was previously linked to the multi-talented Somizi Mhlongo. Their relationship was picture perfect and their marriage turned into a Showmax special, Somizi & Mohale: The Union before things turned sour. Motaung accused Mhlongo of physical abuse and bared it all on another Showmax tell-all special titled Mohale: On the Record. Now, months later, he’s announced his latest business venture. The Living the Dream with Somizi reality TV star has opened a nightclub in Melville called Fusion Cocktail Lounge but, according to the Twitter streets, he may just be the face of the club and not the owner. “New Man. New Club.…

At THE height of the violence that gripped South Africa in 2020 and 2021, the police ministry failed to recruit a single trainee to join the service as 11 178 cops left the service between 2020 and 2022, MPs heard. Furthermore, the police are in the fourth phase of their investigation into corruption in the processes to appoint some cops in the new cohort of 10 000. The police top brass revealed this in their appearance before the police committee, where they accounted for corruption allegations on recruitment and training process, conditions of training facilities and capacity of training staff/trainers, among other issues. Major-General Lenny Govender told MPs that “there was no intake of new police trainees that were recruited” due to Covid-19. The SAPS also hobbled on despite…

Entrance to universities in South Africa has not been easy for the majority of students. Prior to 1994, students who were not classified as “white” had to apply for permits to study at “white” universities. If university courses were offered at “black” universities, “black” students had to attend the “black” universities. Students who were oppressed must be commended for their fight to make all universities in South Africa non-racial. Professor Merlin Mehl, who became a professor of physics at the University of the Western Cape, always related how a “white” university refused to accept him to study a BSc, with maths and physics as his majors, because South Africa did not need “coloured” physicists in the 1960s. Despite this setback, he became a celebrated physicist around the world. Many oppressed…

There are many errors that humans can commit, but denying the Creator and oppression are the worst. Some assume Islam only talks about religion and spirituality, and not about economics. In truth, the Qur’an gives importance to economics, and it says that those who stockpile the Creator’s provisions and deprive others of sustenance commit a crime against themselves and humanity. For example, those who steal from Eskom do not realise the damage they are doing to themselves regarding their connection with the Creator. Although the Creator is most merciful, the Creator listens to those who suffer at the hands of others. This is why harming people is a serious crime. Those who steal from Eskom are not doing it to feed themselves; they steal to drive expensive cars and live…

We are in the second week of March, Human Rights Month as declared by the ANC-led government. It is true that Human Rights Month has a different meaning for the people of KwaZulu-Natal, especially ordinary members of society who live in the townships and deep rural areas. Equally, those who reside in suburbs have their own interpretation of the meaning of the month in relation to human rights. Twenty-nine years into freedom and democracy, a lot has changed in the lives of South Africans. The socio-economic transformation policies of the government, at all levels, have always been aimed at fighting the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment. Unfortunately, the changes we have all witnessed and celebrated since attaining democracy are slowly losing meaning to many citizens because of the…

ATHENS: More than 50 000 protesters took to streets across Greece yesterday and workers staged mass strikes, expressing anger over the country’s worst rail tragedy and urging the prime minister to resign. At least 57 people were killed, and 14 others remain in hospital after a freight train crashed head-on with a passenger train, carrying mostly students, on February 28. Demonstrators in Athens waved signs reading “it’s not an accident, it’s a crime” and “it could have been any of us on that train”. Greek civil servants staged a 24-hour walkout while doctors, teachers, bus drivers and ferry crew members also went on strike. | AFP…

LONDON: Britain yesterday hit back at critics including the UN and football presenter Gary Lineker, after he compared its new plan on illegal immigration to the rhetoric of Nazi-era Germany. The Conservative government intends to outlaw asylum claims by all illegal arrivals and transfer them elsewhere, such as Rwanda, to stop thousands of migrants from crossing the Channel on small boats. Rights groups and the UN said the legislation would make Britain itself an international outlaw. The government said it was within its rights to stop the migrants, who could total 80 000 this year. | AFP…