Innehållsförteckning för 2024-04-24 från Cape Argus

South African veteran actor Sello Maake KaNcube recently took to social media to announce that he is now a “doctor”. He also took to Instagram to post pictures of him being conferred with an honorary doctorate by the Trinity International Bible University. In the caption, KaNcube cited the Bible verse, Isaiah 43:2: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” He added: “Look at God! It’s now Dr Sello Maake kaNcube. Someone please tell my co-pilot, Pearl Mbewe Maake KaNcube, that she is no longer travelling this life journey with a national treasure, but with an honourable DR!” The pictures caused…

Masked gunmen strike at Kenilworth Centre BUSINESS owners have been cautioned to seek security escort when depositing large sums of money at banks after a man was robbed of nearly half a million rand at the entrance to Kenilworth Centre on Monday. Police said a 47-year-old man carrying a black backpack filled with cash was walking with his employer when two armed suspects approached them at the mall’s entrance and threatened them with guns pointed at their heads. The suspects managed to make a getaway with R486 000 in cash, and the victim’s firearm. To conceal their identities, the suspects wore masks. Hours after the incident at 8.30am, CCTV footage of the robbery emerged on social media. At the start of the 33-second clip, a man wearing a security…

A MAGISTRATE at Wynberg Magistrate’s Court said he was shocked by the serious allegations levelled against three police officers. The Public Order Policing (POP) officers – Jemaine Conradie, Leigh Ann Maroon and Delmore Manuel, stationed in Paarl – were arrested for an alleged assault that happened in November last year. They made their first court appearance before magistrate Goolam Bawa yesterday. The State accused them of torturing a salon owner to get information about a drug dealer. “All three SAPS members from POPS in Paarl received information about a drug dealer and they demanded the complainant to assist in identifying the dealer,” said the State prosecutor. “They approached a shop owner and then the members took the complainant, an adult male into one of the rooms, the complainant has a…

The EFF has appointed its youth leader, Naledi Chirwa-Mpungose, as co-ordinator of the EFF Youth and Students Mobilisation Committee, tasked with the responsibility of mobilising youth and students to vote for the party in the 2024 elections. The move comes just weeks after a public outcry over Chirwa-Mpungose’s demotion from the party’s parliamentary list as well as a forced apology to explain her absence from Parliament in February. The party has also redeployed its communications leader, Sixolise Gcilishe, as elections spokesperson, and Mafia Fane as the Youth and Students Mobilisation Committee convener. “Fighter Sixolise Gcilishe is currently the head of communications in the president’s office and will, with immediate effect, assume the role of spokesperson. All media liaison and communication matters that relate to elections will be led from her…

After South Africa took Israel to the ICJ, it was noted that the ANC managed to pay its staff, and clear a lot of debt; and a conspiracy theory arose, claiming that Iran had “bought” the ANC to make their case for them. But after reading Councillor Adams’ rant about the evil West (Cape Argus, April 23), I have to wonder if the ones who “bought” the ANC weren’t, in fact, the evil West? The level of disinvestment in South Africa because of corruption and criminality, and the hypocrisy of our president’s happy greeting of Sudan’s al-Bashir (after we were requested by the ICC to arrest him) means that decent, moral people are going to be highly suspicious of any cause espoused by the ANC. So linking them to the…

Freedom Day is a seminal event in South African history, marking its first non-racial democratic elections. This day also serves as a reminder of a democracy’s inherent fragility. The essence of democracy relies heavily on active participation; without it, the democratic process withers. However, expecting the South African youth to actively engage in this process without addressing the foundational aspects of their education, specifically literacy, overlooks a critical element of democratic participation. The sacrifices made to secure a platform where all South Africans could have their voices heard symbolise a profound commitment to equality and representation. Yet these efforts are only possible if we prioritise cultivating literary capabilities among our population. Literacy is the cornerstone of informed decision-making. To honour the legacy of Freedom Day, we must commit to an…

The Israel-Hamas war entered its 200th day yesterday, with fears mounting of an Israeli invasion in the overcrowded south of the besieged Gaza Strip amid calls for hostages to be freed. The Israeli army carried out intense shelling of Gaza City overnight, witnesses said, and the military said it also struck Hamas positions in south Gaza. Shelling and loud explosions were heard in south-west Gaza and Khan Yunis, while air strikes struck near the Bureij refugee camp and artillery fire hit the Nuseirat refugee camp. The war erupted when Palestinian militants poured across the border with Israel on October 7 in an unprecedented Hamas-led attack that resulted in the deaths of 1 170 people, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. In retaliation, Israel launched a military offensive…

NAIROBI: Twenty one migrants died and another 23 are missing after a boat carrying 77 people capsized off the coast of Djibouti, the second such incident in two weeks, the UN migration agency said yesterday. The boat’s occupants included children, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. Tens of thousands of migrants from the Horn of Africa, especially from Ethiopia and Somalia, leave the continent through Djibouti, aiming to reach Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations to find work, IOM said. Many drown, and thousands are stranded in Yemen where they live in harsh conditions. | Reuters…

“Kwena video-called me and showed me the size of his room … OMG … it was huge and there was a new iPad just laying there!” That was an excited Lhuan-dre Pretorius after getting off a call with his former SA Under-19 teammate Kwena Maphaka, who is playing for the Mumbai Indians in the prestigious Indian Premier League. It was only a few months ago that they were playing together for St Stithians, Gauteng Schools and the Junior Proteas at the ICC U19 World Cup in South Africa. Unfortunately, the duo could not help the hosts cross the semi-final hurdle against eventual champions India, but not before Maphaka finished as the leading wicket taker of the competition and Pretorius as the top run scorer for the home team. While…

Halle Bailey is so deep in the grip of “severe post-partum depression” that she feels like she’s drowning and suffers dissociation from her body. The Little Mermaid actress, 24, had her first child, a son named Halo, with her rapper and vlogger husband DDG, 26, in January and has now told fans she has been suffering a serious case of what some casually dub “baby blues” – but which can be hormonal changes so serious they can spark anxiety, constant crying and restlessness that require urgent medical intervention. In a video posted on her Snapchat, Bailey said that even though she is with her “perfect” baby boy, she is stricken with a “really bad” case of the condition. She added: “I have severe, severe post-partum (depression), and I don't know…

CYRIL Ramaphosa’s performance as president of South Africa has been disastrous. That’s the view of the overwhelming majority of participants in a recent poll survey. The survey, conducted by the African Innovation Research South Africa (AIRSA) in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town, found a striking 71.26% of participants expressed disapproval of Ramaphosa’s performance, revealing a deep-seated dissatisfaction. Only 18.64% of respondents expressed approval, highlighting a significant challenge facing the president as he navigates the political landscape in the run-up to the May 29 elections. A total of 1 030 participants were surveyed, a cross-section of the South African populace in the three metros. AIRSA has been commissioned to conduct similar surveys in all nine provinces, the results of which will be made available towards the end of April. Professor Bheki…

POLICE and e-hailing service providers have warned commuters to be vigilant of “fake” operators using the service to target and lure victims to commit serious crime. This week, Table View police station Captain, Adriana Chandler, sent out a strong warning to residents to be vigilant when making use of the e-hailing services which have been linked to rape and robberies. The Western Cape E-hailing Association commended police for blowing the whistle, and cautioned commuters to be wary of “fake profiles and fake apps”. Chandler has been updating the Table View Community Police Forum (CPF) Facebook page, to warn the public about the increase in crimes. But this time, she extended her warning to the entire country. The Weekend Argus also reported how the Greater Table View Action Forum and…

THE criminal case against a taxi boss charged with serious crimes including murder is ready for trial. Bonke Makalala was arrested in Pretoria in December for the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition. He was with his girlfriend at the time of his arrest. Yesterday, he appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on six charges dating back to 2018. The State indicated they were ready to proceed to trial. “There had been a request for all matters to be centralised, but the case in Pretoria is a negative because there is another accused with him,” the prosecutor said. Magistrate Goolam Bawa said: “We are waiting for the Director of Public Prosecutions to make available the decision whether this matter is going to the regional or the high court. I…

WHILE the ANC is mum on its postponement of the announcement of its Western Cape premier candidate, sources within the party say it’s a political strategy to dissuade ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula from jumping the gun, and to allow volunteers to focus on the door-to-door campaign for now. There has been uncertainty and speculation as to who the party’s Western Cape premier candidate will be. International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor was proposed as the premier candidate along with ANC provincial spokesperson Khalid Sayed and Ayanda Bans, who is number one on the party’s Western Cape list. As voters and party members await this announcement, the party released a media alert on Monday saying it would host a media briefing yesterday where Mbalula was to announce the party’s provincial candidate. However,…

RESIDENTS living in the south peninsula yesterday breathed a sigh of relief as their water supply was restored after being left high and dry since Sunday afternoon. Households in Pelican Park, Strandfontein, Phumlani, Zeekoevlei, Grassy Park, Lotus River, Muizenberg and Wetton, among others, were affected by a vandalised air valve in Blackbird Avenue, Parkwood, which caused a leak in the system. The City said that to repair the damage, it needed to shut down the water supply. On Monday, the Western Cape Education Department’s metro south district office had to dismiss pupils early at 44 schools for health and safety reasons. Water and Sanitation Mayco member Zahid Badroodien said yesterday that the directorate turned the final nuts and bolts on a new section of water pipe that was successfully installed.…

EQUAL Education (EE) and the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) have approached the Western Cape High Court over unplaced learners in the province. Together with five parents, EE, represented by the EELC, launched an urgent court application against the Western Cape Eduction Department (WCED) and the Department of Basic Education for the immediate placement of unplaced learners in the Metro East education district. EELC attorney Yolisa Piliso said the matter was expected to be heard on Friday due to it being an urgent application. “We filed this matter on April 11 with the hope that the matter is going to be heard on the 26th, but we have since received difficulties from the side of the Western Cape government to have this matter resolved expeditiously because they informed us they’re…

The significance of the election manifesto of Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) is that it is a carbon copy of the SACP in every respect. MKP is politically and philosophically premised on the meaning of its cry “Mayibuye” which translates as “come back Africa” or “Africa may it return”. From that perspective follows its no-holds-barred intentions of removing, reversing and reclaiming all that was lost and cost during “the prolonged period of national shame since 1652”. The MKP’s priority is the abolition of the following aspects of chapter two of our Constitution: freedom and security of person; political rights; freedom of expression; privacy; and property rights. Philanthropist, writer and thinker, Sir John Templeton, identified property rights as being essential to human rights. The MKP ignores that and pledges to…

The SACP strongly condemns the apartheid Israeli settler regime’s genocide on Palestinian people and reiterates its message of solidarity with the Palestinians. It will take part in the Week for Palestine global activities from May 1 to 7. On Saturday, April 20, there was yet another mass grave, where about 200 Palestinian bodies were found in Khan Younis, Gaza. The bodies were those of elderly women, children and young men. In following the strict tutelage of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime, the Israeli regime had the victims bound before executing and hurriedly burying them. This marks the latest Israeli settler state’s genocidal rampage, adding to the 34 000 deaths of Palestinians the regime has killed since October 7, 2023. On Sunday, April 21, the apartheid Israeli regime killed…

The ANC must prioritise strengthening its cybersecurity at its hybrid National Executive Meeting ahead of the polls. This week’s furore over a leaked audio of President Cyril Ramaphosa reading the riot act to his fellow ANC NEC members over the party’s election campaign was nothing less than embarrassing. Ramaphosa expresses his dissatisfaction with the party’s 2024 election campaign while sharing sensitive thoughts on his party’s status. He can be heard, in the leaked audio, complaining that the campaign lacked energy and the officials did not give enough support to volunteers. He is also heard criticising the media in the private meeting, plotting to create a war room to manage television stations that report negatively about the ANC. He even threatens to “take to task” those that report negatively about the…

London: A row between pharmaceutical firms Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech was in a London court yesterday over patents for Covid vaccine technology that helped save millions of lives during the pandemic. At issue is US firm Moderna’s claim that its American competitor Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech breached patent law over its Comirnaty vaccine. Moderna said in 2020 that it would not enforce Covid-19-related patents while the pandemic continued. But it claims that it is due compensation for products manufactured after March 7 last year when supply was no longer an issue. | AFP…

Rome: Venice will this week begin charging day trippers for entry, a world first ,aimed at easing pressure on the Italian city drowning under the weight of mass tourism. Tomorrow, day visitors will for the first time have to buy a €5 (R102) ticket, monitored by inspectors carrying out spot checks at key points in the Unesco world heritage site. Venice is one of the world’s top tourist destinations, with 3.2 million visitors staying overnight in 2022, dwarfing the resident population of just 50 000. The aim of the tickets is to persuade day trippers to thin out the worst of the crowds. | AFP…

British singer-songwriter, JP Cooper, will be returning to South Africa in November, where he is expected to perform in three cities as part of his 2024 World Tour. The musician was in the country last year and he is thrilled to be visiting once again, this time, serenading his fans in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. “I’m so, so happy to announce that I’ll be embarking on a bit of a world tour later this year,” he said. “It will be in support of my new album and I feel privileged to say that I will be coming back to South Africa as part of that tour. “The love I felt last time I was there and the support you guys have given my music has totally blown me away.…

A COURT interpreter has been charged with corruption after she allegedly asked for a bribe. Nomvuyo Dyosi is accused of asking the sister of an accused to pay the presiding officer, a Mr Nkambule, R30 000 so her brother could get bail. Zimasa Ntsodo’s brother, Lennox, was one of the people accused of illegally selling plots in Mfuleni last year. He was arrested along with council workers and charged with fraud. On the day he appeared for a bail application, Lennox Ntsodo showed up in court with bruises. National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said: “Ntsodo’s sister, Zimasa, attended her brother’s bail application, noticed he had been assaulted and became very worried about his condition. “Dyosi approached the sister and asked her to buy ‘sweets’ for the magistrate to…

PLUMSTEAD-based Cultivating Excellence Academy has scooped first place at the first-ever Area South Debate Competition. The learners competed against Cape Academy of Maths, Science and Technology, and South Peninsula High School in the competition jointly organised by three City Libraries, courtesy of ward allocation funding. Among the topics included corporal punishment, smoking in public places and the provision of free sanitary products to women and girls. A teacher in charge of the debate team at Cultivating Excellence Academy, Tamlin Lawrence, said she was proud of each learner and those who helped prepare them. “The pupils worked tirelessly to improve their skills in preparation for the debate. They worked well together and learnt from one another. “The competition was extremely tough and was filled with pressure. “However, they remained even-tempered, composed,…

I am a pensioner who supports three school-going children who live with an uncle who is unemployed and I’m struggling with this electricity issue. When I buy R50 electricity it only lasts for two days. This is hitting very hard on my budget. Now with the increase of the electricity tariff it means I will have to dig deeper into my pocket which I feel will not be fair, they are children who are dependent on me for electricity. When I don’t have money for electricity they either survive on bread or they devise means of making a fire and cook outside. This is very unfair and difficult to handle. Please, whoever is responsible for electricity, think about the poor people who can’t buy electricity every day!!!!…

THE US veto vote against the widely backed resolution supporting an upgrade from observer status to full UN membership for Palestine must be condemned. The US was the only country in the 15-member UN Security Council to vote against Palestinians’ desire for full UNSC membership, a goal Palestinians have long requested and apartheid Israel has prevented. The support Palestinians received from most UNSC members reflects the growing number of countries recognising Palestinians’ right to self-determination. The power of the US veto vote calls for an overhaul of the imperfect UNSC structure in which a few countries can use their veto power to control the troubles and matters of billions of human beings across the globe. The UNSC is failing in its mandate and role of maintaining international peace, security, rule…

In reference to your edition on Tuesday, April 23, 2024 – “Opinion: For smaller parties, this election is crucial”. In fact, I believe the election is crucial for every single South African. By now most citizens have come to realise how broken the system is. The governing party, the ANC, has left us in an extremely bad environment. The parastatals are not working and are bankrupt, and the public service is not delivering. Over and above all of that, unemployment is the worst in the world and crime is skyrocketing. All this sounds bad but there is hope. The hope is borne out by the various polls that are reported daily in the Cape Argus. These polls tell us that it won’t be business as usual after the…

It was an autumn day, on April 20, 1964, in South Africa when Mandela, from the dock of the Rivonia Trial, during the opening of the defence’s case, addressed the world. The address was dubbed in the media as “(an ideal for which) I am prepared to die”. Over time, some scholars and historians were to regard the speech as one of the greatest in the 20th century. At the time, Mandela was also presented in the media, perhaps rightfully so, as the Black Pimpernel, for the symbol he had become in the Struggle against the system of white domination and apartheid policies by the whites-only regime. He was to occupy prominent positions and the spotlight since then and over the next decade or so, since the 1952 Defiance…

Stockholm: Swedish prosecutors have charged climate campaigner Greta Thunberg with civil disobedience for ignoring police orders to leave two climate demonstrations blocking Sweden’s parliament in March, court documents showed. “The court date has been set for May 8,” a court clerk said yesterday. Thunberg, 21, and other activists blocked the main entrance to Sweden’s parliament in a protest that began on March 11 and was repeated over several days. Thunberg was removed by police on March 12 and 14 after refusing to obey their orders to leave the scene. | AFP…

Vusumuzi Vilakazi hasn’t been one to shy away from speaking his mind. As such, he fired a warning shot to Cape Town Spurs ahead of their survival battle on Friday. With matches coming thick and fast in the DStv Premiership, Spurs and Richards Bay are in danger of being relegated. But it’s been Richards Bay that have got on with the business of staging a recovery. They won their last two games in a row, including beating Kaizer Chiefs on Sunday. The two massive wins saw Vilakazi and his men retain 15th spot, while opening an eight-point gap between them and basement dwellers Spurs. The Urban Warriors, on the other hand, have found the going tough. They lost their last four games in a row and are without a win…