Innehållsförteckning för 2023-03-29 från Cape Argus

SOUTH AFRICA’s theatre A-listers gathered at the Oude Libertas Amphitheatre in Stellenbosch on Sunday for the 58th Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards. The event was one of many celebrating World Theatre Day globally on March 27. Contested Bodies, produced by Abrahamse and Meyer Productions, scooped the most awards after bagging 16 nominations. They won Best Director (Fred Abrahamse), Best Costume Design (Marcel Meyer) and the cast members Matthew Baldwin, Lungile Lallie and Marcel Meyer were acknowledged for Best Performance by an Ensemble. Carlo Daniels won two awards in the category Best New Director for his production No Complaints – New Day, New Dawn and Best Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Play in The Unlikely Secret Agent. Daniels said: “I didn’t expect this double award. This one is special…

The SA Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) has launched an investigation into the crash of a light plane in Kraaifontein in which two pilots were lucky to escape with injuries. Titanium Securitas head of operations Kobus Kotze said rescuers responded to the crash yesterday in the vicinity of the Waste Water Treatment Plant after receiving multiple phone calls just after 11am. He said when they arrived, they found the pilots, aged 25 and 31, outside the plane. One had serious injuries, the other moderate injuries. “Both patients were stabilised by advanced life support paramedics. One patient was flown to a level one trauma centre by Air Mercy Service and the other was transported via road to the appropriate facility,” Kotze said. SACAA communications manager Sisa Majola said the SACAA was informed…

A 55-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the murder of 10-year-old Denecka Persence from Macassar who went missing earlier this month and was later found dead in a canal. Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said the man would appear in the Somerset Magistrate’s Court today on charges of kidnapping and murder. While the man’s identity is being withheld until he appears in court, the community said he is known and the family is familiar with him. The community filled the Macassar Secondary School hall last Saturday to bid their final goodbyes to Denecka who was later buried in the Somerset West graveyard. Presence’s body was discovered in a canal in Marvin Park next to the N2 on March 12 after a search party that started immediately after she…

The community of Makhaza have yet to welcome their “temporary” police station following a successful site handover by police to the appointed construction company. The fabricated steel manufacturing company is expected to submit a project budget within the next two weeks. Felix Clemons from the construction company said construction would begin shortly after their budget is approved by national police. “We tendered for a term contract. This will be the first police station we put up in terms of this contract, but we have done so many in the past. This will be a temporary police station. We need to provide a budget for the project within the next two weeks and once it is approved we can start on site with site works and consultation,” he said. Ward councillor…

“Asinamali”, loosely translated as “We have no money”, was the protest chant by over 150 Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) students as they marched to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) offices in Cape Town. Students from CPUT District Six campus, led by the CPUT EFF Student Command, marched to the offices to hand over a memorandum of grievances. Two months into the start of the academic year, students still do not know if their applications for NSFAS funding have been approved or not. EFFSC co-ordinator Khanyiso Xhaya said: “We are not satisfied with the current state of NSFAS, including the cap of accommodation of R45 000. We are in the second term of the semester, these students did not receive their allowances as of yet. So they…

PEOPLE gathered at the Joe Slovo Engineering High School in Khayelitsha cheered as a newly repaired engine that had been dormant for over 10 years revved thunderously following its unveiling. In a relationship-building initiative, False Bay TVET College repaired the largely inactive engine, used for practicals since last June, and handed it over to the school yesterday. Principal Sityhilelo Ntamo said: “When we started our partnership with False Bay College, our teachers went to False Bay College to see the good practices there, and also from False Bay College they did the same. “When they arrived here and saw this engine that was old, we asked them to refurbish it for us to use when we teach our learners. They gladly did it.” The school now has two functioning engines.…

Springbok flyhalf Manie Libbok is excited by the challenge of facing England star Marcus Smith in Saturday’s Champions Cup last 16 encounter against Harlequins. The teams clash at Cape Town Stadium (4pm kick-off) in what is expected to be a game full of running rugby, with both sides known for a ball-in-hand approach. The exciting Libbok has been the talisman for the Stormers so far, and will look to make his mark even further when he comes face-to-face with one of England’s best No 10s. Like Libbok, Smith is known for his exciting brand of running rugby at flyhalf, and he won’t just be a massive test for the Stormers pivot, but also for the defence of the Cape side. It’s expected that Harlequins will bring their best team for…

After pulling out of last year’s event on the day of his race, Wayde van Niekerk will be competing at the South African championships in the 400m this week. Athletics SA said in a statement yesterday that the 2016 Olympic champion and world record holder would feature in the one-lap event at the NWU McArthur Stadium in Potchefstroom. Van Niekerk had been training at his US camp in Florida for a number of months, but has been hard at work in his regular SA base in Bloemfontein over the last couple of days. He will begin his campaign in the 400m heats tomorrow afternoon, with the semi-finals on Friday evening and the final on Saturday afternoon. Van Niekerk’s main competition is likely to come from world junior champion Lythe Pillay.…

APPROACHING 39, Bismarck du Plessis has seen most things on a rugby field. He is longing for his farm in the eastern Free State region, so much so that he didn’t really want to be drawn on his controversial yellow card for a clean-out on Ulster flyhalf Billy Burns in last weekend’s 32-23 United Rugby Championship (URC) defeat in Belfast. “I think we should keep ourselves to the game on Sunday, rather than talk about officiating and the IRB rulings and stuff like that, because like I said, if you phone me in a few months’ time and I am on the farm with my kids, I will give you my 100% co-operation,” the veteran hooker said from France yesterday. “I’ve never been somebody who looks at my own decisions,…

More than 130 volunteer cast members have spent the past seven months preparing to thrill audiences this Easter in the Durban Passion Play on from April 6 -16 at the Playhouse Drama Theatre. Known as the Oberammergau of Africa, the show strives to restore the true meaning of Easter, depicting Jesus’ passion, covering the final period of his life from his visit to Jerusalem to his execution by crucifixion and ending with the Resurrection. Directed by Dawn Haynes and Jessica Wardle, the cast comprises an inter-denominational, inter-faith, multi-cultural, multi-lingual group of diverse people who vary in age from toddlers and teenagers to young adults and the more mature; able-bodied and differently-abled. “There are also multi-generational family groups, with the older members having performed on multiple occasions. Some of the cast…

Province’s SAPS burgled or vandalised They are supposed to make us feel safe, a refuge to turn to, to report crime and get help, but police stations across the province are themselves the victims of crime. Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC Reagen Allen has painted a horror picture of police stations being burgled and vandalised, saying that from 2018 to date, 81 police stations across the province had either been burgled or vandalised. More alarming was that only 76 of 151 police stations were fitted with CCTV cameras. Allen was responding to a series of written questions from standing committee on community safety chairperson Gillion Bosman (DA) with respect to the safety of police stations as well as the installation of CCTV cameras at police stations across the province.…

FRIENDS of Mozambican salon owner Melita Mangane, who was shot and killed in Samora Machel at the weekend after failing to pay extortionists, have turned to the public to assist with her burial. It has now emerged that Mangane has no family members in the country, had cut ties with her family in Mozambique and left her 16-year-old daughter currently doing her matric with no birth certificate. Mangane had not been paying the “protection fees” for years and a day before she was shot by the protection fee collectors the assailants had allegedly instructed her to close down her salon. A close friend of Mangane, who asked not to be named, said the woman had been in the country for more than 20 years and they had been friends…

Fewer tourists overall visited South Africa in February this year than in January, according to the latest data collected by Statistics SA from the border statistics put together by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), and the majority of these were from SADC countries. The data released yesterday showed that of the 820 000 foreign arrivals recorded arriving and departing at South Africa’s various ports of entry, including those in transit, 799 000 were classed as visitors, and of these 600 000 stayed overnight, becoming tourists. In January there were 1.1 million foreign arrivals of whom 1 million were visitors. This number was further broken down into 200 000 in transit and 840 000 overnight visitors, or tourists. The majority of the tourists, 66.6%, were from SADC countries with Zimbabwe,…

The City has rejected “misinformation” spreading on social media that its tap water is highly contaminated with a “soup of bacteria and viruses” and is not safe for public consumption. It said Cape Town’s tap water complied with SANS241 standards and was safe for consumption. The message spreading across WhatsApp groups in Cape Town read: “Friends and family, our tap water is highly contaminated with a soup of bacteria and viruses including multi drug resistant E coli ... Reason being that load shedding is messing with the decontamination and chlorinating process. “There is an epidemic of gastro in the Western Cape. The MEC for Health is aware but while trying to sort the problem out, the public is not being informed. Know that the presence of these organisms has been…

Education Minister Blade Nzimande and Germany’s Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger have signed a declaration of intent to establish a joint research chair on their Just Energy Transitions from fossil fuel energy to carbon-neutral energy systems. This forms part of the agreement the two nations made last year to work together in implementing just transition projects by advancing their co-operation and mutual learning as both South Africa and Germany faced similar challenges in reducing the use of fossil fuels. Nzimande said: “This joint declaration of intent aims at setting out the framework conditions and ideas of the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research for the establishment of a bilateral research chair on the Just Energy Transition topic.” Nzimande added that both countries regard…

Lionel Messi stepped out of Diego Maradona’s shadow by leading Argentina to World Cup victory last year, and a statue of the diminutive forward will stand alongside those of his predecessor and Brazil great Pele at the South American football federation’s museum. Messi, holding a replica of the World Cup trophy, stood beside the life-size statue at an unveiling ceremony at the South American Football Federation (Conmebol) headquarters in Luque, Paraguay, before the Copa Libertadores draw on Monday. The 35-year-old emulated the late Maradona by leading Argentina to their first World Cup triumph in 36 years in Qatar in December. “I had never dreamed or thought about this,” Messi said. “My dream was to enjoy what I liked when I was little, to be a professional soccer player, to do…

Western Province will play their first home game of the Currie Cup season on Saturday, and will be looking to get back to winning ways after a loss to the Sharks. They face Griquas on Saturday (7.15pm kick-off) at Cape Town Stadium in a double-header with the Stormers, whose Champions Cup knockout match against Harlequins starts at 4pm. Province lock Gary Porter jokingly said it is nice to have such a big game as the curtain-raiser for them. After their defeat to the Sharks last Sunday in Durban, the first of their campaign, WP’s aim is a victory over Griquas, but that is easier said than done. Griquas have beaten WP in their last four Currie Cup clashes, and it’s a hold the home team will look to break. For…

Suspended Public Protector (PP) Busisiwe Mkhwebane returned to the parliamentary committee investigating her fitness for office to testify that she was being targeted just because she was doing her job as prescribed by the Constitution. Mkhwebane, who had been away from the hearings for a week due to an unspecified illness, was answering questions from her lead counsel advocate Dali Mpofu who began his questions by revisiting the issue of the CR17/Bosasa investigation and report. Yesterday, Mkhwebane told the committee that although she had done nothing differently in the CR17 investigation than her predecessor Thuli Madonsela had done in her investigation into state capture, she was being held to a different standard. “I am being targeted for doing my work,” she said. Mkhwebane charged that the media had pushed…

The man accused of setting Parliament alight was set to be moved to a psychiatric facility in the Eastern Cape. Zandile Christmas Mafe, 50, appeared in the Western Cape High Court yesterday where it was revealed where he will be admitted, after he refused to be admitted to Valkenberg Hospital in Cape Town for mental observation. At the time, Mafe’s lawyer Luvuyo Godla would not divulge his client’s reasoning. “He has got his own story, which we believe will be ventilated when the investigation takes place. We were advised by the State that they are going to investigate some of the allegations raised by our client. “Obviously, we are mindful of the fact that government doesn’t have unlimited resources and we should be reasonable, but obviously we don’t want to…

A City official has been suspended for allegedly playing a role in the multimillion-rand fraud in which DA councillor Malusi Booi has been implicated. Moreover, the City served employees with tenure contracts in Booi’s office with a month’s notice, City spokesperson Priya Reddy confirmed to the Cape Argus. Though two councillors in different municipalities said a Mayco member can be allowed to make between three and five political appointments, the Cape Argus could not immediately verify how many employees Booi had in his office. Last week, mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis axed Booi with immediate effect from his mayoral committee post after Booi’s offices were raided in a blitz led by the SAPS commercial crimes unit amid ongoing investigations into allegations of tender fraud at the housing department, which whistle-blowers estimated to…

Major milestones were already evident during the first phase of the Research Networks for Health Innovations in Sub-Saharan Africa (Rhissa) programme, said German Minister of Research and Education Bettina Stark-Watzinger. Stark-Watzinger, in South Africa for a two-day visit, made the remarks during the Rhissa bridging conference at the Vineyard Hotel in Newlands yesterday. It continues today. Stark-Watzinger was joined by Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande, the two addressing attendees from across the world who had gathered in their capacities as leading health and science experts, with several on international scientific and advisory boards and programmes. The Rhissa programme is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, with an investment of €50 million (about R985m) over five years during the first phase. Initiated in 2016,…

A 27-year-old worker at a Madrid hotel hosting the Morocco team was arrested for an alleged hate crime after posting derogatory comments on Islam and racist slurs against the players on social media, Spanish police and the hotel said yesterday. Local police said the employee, a waiter at the Spanish capital’s five-star Eurostars Hotel Tower, asked players to take photographs with him. He then uploaded the images to Instagram with xenophobic insults and tagged the Moroccan team’s account, with the post quickly receiving over 70000 views. The man is due to appear before a judge shortly, police said. “We wish to offer our most sincere apologies in relation to the unfortunate, reprehensible and unacceptable comments of a racist and xenophobic nature,” Hotusa, the group that owns the hotel, said in…

And breathe! Bafana Bafana produced a spirited performance to overcome Liberia 2-1 at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex last night to book their place at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations finals in the Ivory Coast. The South African men’s football side ensured they will definitely finish above Liberia regardless of the results against Morocco for both teams, and will return to the continental showpiece for the first time since 2019. Zakhele Lepasa, who surprisingly started the game ahead of last Saturday’s two-goal hero Lyle Foster, broke the deadlock for Bafana with a well taken goal in the 19th minute. The 26-year-old forward was delightfully played through over the top of the Liberia defence, and after composing himself, he did well to guide home against the on-rushing goalkeeper, putting…

Kaizer Chiefs are reportedly on the verge of landing two of their biggest transfer targets for next season. TS Galaxy captain Given Msimango and Cape Town City attacker Mduduzi Mdantsane have agreed in principle to lucrative moves to the Naturena-based club, joining SuperSport United’s Thatayaone Ditlokwe, who will also join in the new season. Chiefs were after the signature of Mdantsane during the January transfer window with initial reports suggesting it was City who turned down Chiefs’ offer. But City coach Eric Tinkler set the record straight by saying that it was Amakhosi who pulled out at the last minute when it looked like the deal would go through. “It was literally at the last minute that Kaizer Chiefs opted not to go through with the deal, but I don’t…