Innholdsfortegnelse for CA-2021-03-26 i Cape Argus

Accused of carrying out malicious campaign against commission, Concourt Loyiso Sidimba and Baldwin Ndaba THE commission of inquiry into state capture has accused former president Jacob Zuma of waging a malicious political campaign against it, the Constitutional Court and the entire judiciary. Argument in the commission’s urgent bid to have Zuma jailed for contempt of court for ignoring the January 2021 Constitutional Court order compelling him to honour the inquiry’s summons and directives was heard yesterday. Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi SC, for the commission, told the apex court that Zuma was not even represented in the matter to complain about the possible infringement of his freedom of speech for the claims he made against the judiciary. “He is quite happy that he has made his remarks because they fall into…

Nomalanga Tshuma nomalanga.tshuma@inl.co.za 11-MONTH-OLD Akhimbali Mafentile’s mother is set to appear in the Blue Downs Magistrate’s court today on charges of murder and child neglect. The 20-year-old woman was arrested by police on Wednesday afternoon following the discovery of her son’s body in a dried-up dam in Bloekombos, Kraaifontein. Police spokesperson Andre Traut said the body of the 11-month-old infant was discovered at the dam following his disappearance on March 21. “Detectives are probing all possibilities, and it is too soon to speculate on the circumstances surrounding the case at this stage. “A single suspect, a 20-year-old female was arrested and is expected to make a court appearance on Friday (today) in the Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court on charges of murder and child neglect,” Traut said. In the Marikana informal…

Ntombi Nkosi ntombi.nkosi@inl.co.za The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture has continued to hear shocking revelations about the corruption involving the SA Revenue Service (Sars). In his testimony, former Sars employee Johann van Loggerenberg told the commission yesterday about Project Honey Badger launched in 2013 to fight the illicit tobacco trade. Evidence leader advocate Alistair Franklin asked Van Loggerenberg to clarify his tobacco industry case study, which he mentioned in one of his affidavits. “The cigarettes industry, in particular, has always been a problem and the government has been losing a lot of money and legitimate business has suffered,” said Van Loggerenberg. He explained that in the 2011/12 fiscal year, Sars collected R10.8 billion in excise duty. “In the following year, it (excise duty) went up to R11.5bn…

A CLEAN pet is a happy pet, according to budding business owner Masakhane Sotayisi. Sotayisi, 30, has a career in performing arts as an opera singer, which started with Isango Ensemble, a local theatre company, in 2013. Last month, Sotayisi went from sounds to hounds. He started offering a dog-washing service in his local community in Makhaya. Like many others who have careers in the arts, Sotayisi was not exempted from the unexpected disruptions that came with the Covid-19 pandemic. In March last year, South Africa went into a hard lockdown which saw the closure of borders and businesses and a ban on large gatherings. Sotayisi said Covid-19 restrictions started while he was preparing for a European tour. Everything came to a halt and he could only work virtually. The…

Mwangi Githahu mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za PREMIER Alan Winde has warned that even though the province’s Covid-19 infection numbers continue their downward trajectory, the public needs to guard against the risks of the Easter weekend becoming a super-spreader period. Speaking at the regular digital news conference, Winde said: “Our numbers in the province are still looking good and I’m happy to report that on Wednesday we recorded no deaths from Covid-19. “However, we must all understand that there is still a risk in the upcoming Easter weekend. Everything we’re doing now is in an effort to push the possible third wave as far back as possible so we don’t make the Easter weekend a super-spreader event. “We already have an environment in place where we restrict gatherings, and we need to make…

SHOPRITE says while others disregard the R5 coin, the retail group will continue to look for ways to stretch it even further, selling food and essential items that require only a single coin. The first of these was Shoprite’s 600g in-house bakery brown bread, which still retails for only R4.99 – the same price as when it was launched in April 2016. Over the past five years, there has been zero inflation on this product, and stores have sold more than 266 million loaves. In 2017, Shoprite introduced discounted deli meals so consumers with only R5 could afford to eat.…

Pieter Hough | Stellenbosch I AGREE with Jean Bryanston. Zuma and his ANC have done great damage to South Africa. They must not be allowed to continue causing harm to our country. It’s time for like-minded people who care for their country to rise. A multiracial United Democratic Front must come to the fore. White, black, coloured and Indian people with integrity and honesty must unite and run the country. White, black and Indian people have spoken out against the corruption. But our coloured leaders are silent. We must remember that we also sin by what we fail to do. We sin if we do not speak against corruption; we sin if we do nothing against the fraudsters. Why are we so afraid? To lose our jobs? Come…

MTHUTHUZELI NTSEKU mthuthuzeli.ntseku@inl.co.za ANC spokesperson for Economic Opportunities, Nomi Nkondlo, has condemned the City’s “draconian” informal trading by-laws that she said were undermining the ability of informal traders to survive in these tough economic times. Nkondlo said this following a meeting with the leadership of informal traders’ organisations on Wednesday. The meeting happened while a fruit and veg trader in Goodwood was given a warning by law enforcement officers for “over-trading and trading in the wrong bay”. “Draconian and inhuman treatment by law enforcement to informal traders and the use of extreme force to remove, displace and evict them in their spaces of trade, including in areas where there is no trading plan, and heavy-handed regulation that uses law enforcement with little or no engagement between City officials and traders…

Reagen Allen A response to MPP Kama’s letter, “Dan Plato is an enemy of the poor”. It is regrettable the ANC in the Western Cape resorted to a personal attack on the character of the executive mayor of Cape Town and misconstrued facts on the state of policing in the province. In doing so, MPL Kama effectively excuses national government from its core safety mandate. The fact that several Western Cape police stations feature in the top 30 murder stations in the SAPS’s annual crime stats year on year is evidence of our long-standing plea to national government to increase resources at these stations, improve visible policing, and intensify criminal intelligence efforts to fight rampant violent crime. The lack of SAPS visible policing is a recipe for the encouragement…

THREE years ago, Alderman JP Smith accused me of causing R1.5 million damages to city infrastructure. I said at the time that it was a lie, for the simple reason that I had never called for a violent protest. The alderman claimed that a criminal case had been opened against me. That too was a lie. I write this letter out of frustration. This week, the same person has claimed that we, the Cape Coloured Congress, doctored a video, exposing the mayor’s rudeness to one of our members. The member’s crime? Demanding answers from a mayor who has been exposed as a fundamental liar. A member of the community was told to shut up by the mayor. His crime was to expect a simple, truthful answer from a man unfamiliar…

In January, President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed his deputy, David Mabuza, to spearhead the inter-ministerial committee on Covid-19 vaccines. At the time, Ramaphosa said a strategy had already been developed for the distribution of the vaccine and that the committee would handle the mechanics of the whole process. Since then, the government has dealt with myriad challenges and embarrassing moments which have warranted us to pose a pivotal question: “Does the inter-ministerial committee work at all, and is it effective?” For instance, the shambolic process that unfolded in the procurement of AstraZeneca vaccines remains a thorny issue. To this day, it remains a mystery as to whether the Department of Health under Minister Zweli Mkhize conducted due diligence in the deals with India to get AstraZeneca to our shores, only for…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s prospects of forming a new coalition government after an indecisive election were further complicated on Thursday by a far-right refusal of any prospective parliamentary partnership with an Islamist party. Partial tallies from Tuesday’s ballot showed Netanyahu’s conservative Likud and ideologically kindred factions short of a majority in the 120-seat Knesset – raising the possibility he would seek some sort of accommodation with the United Arab List. While political commentators saw inclusion of the UAL – which was forecast to win four seats – in a Netanyahu-led government as unlikely, some predicted the party might instead pledge not to support any opposition no-confidence motions. In exchange, Netanyahu would agree on measures to improve conditions for Israel’s 21% Arab minority, the commentators said. But Religious Zionism (RZ),…

Mark van Deventer Unbeaten three-year-old colt Kommetdieding, dramatically scratched a few days out from the Cape Derby in February when odds on ante-post favourite, has made a full recovery from the over-reach injury which prompted his withdrawal. He is slated to leave on April 5 for the KZN Winter season, taking the traditional Guineas, Daily News and Durban July route, which has historically worked out well for similarly top class performers. Trainer Michelle Rix will be spending three months in KZN. When questioned about riding arrangements, she answered with admirable loyalty: “Sihle Cele will continue riding – we will keep a winning team going!” Cele has partnered Kommetdieding to all four of his career victories to date, and though the bare stats mark him as a low percentage rider…

HERMAN GIBBS The Sunshine Tour has salvaged the women’s professional golf tour based in southern Africa by offering a condensed Women’s Tour schedule after Covid-19 put paid to competition in the last few months. The 2021 calendar starts with the Cape Town Women’s Open at Royal Cape Golf Club on 7 April. The season ends with the South African Women’s Open at Westlake Golf Club starting on 13 May. This time, the SA Women’s Open will be a Women’s European Tour co-sanctioned event and will be an official qualifying event for this year’s US Women’s Open, at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, in June. The South African winner of the SA Women’s Open takes home an additional R100 000 for the Investec Homegrown Award, courtesy of sponsors Investec.…

Another lawyer jailed – for theft from trust account A SECOND Cape Town attorney has been jailed for theft by the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said yesterday. Provincial spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said that Arthur Skibbe, 62, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. He said Skibbe was convicted on theft charges after he confessed that a client, Frederick Hoffman, deposited R740 169 into his attorney’s trust account on October 2, 2015, as a deposit against liquidations of a company Hoffman owned, Finman 122. Ntabazalila said that Engen Petroleum applied for liquidation proceedings against Hoffman’s company and the money paid into Skibbe’s trust account for safekeeping until the dispute had been resolved between the two parties. Hoffman’s company eventually appointed a new attorney to negotiate on…

Mayibongwe Maqhina mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za Parliament’s ad hoc committee on Section 25 wants a comprehensive report from the government on the challenges faced in the land reform programme and solutions taken so far to address the issues. The committee made the call yesterday when it declined to receive presentations from the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and the Public Works and Infrastructure Department. This was after the departments’ oral submissions were deemed not adequate, and in response to concerns made by interest groups to the committee earlier this week. Co-chairperson Mathole Motshekga said serious concerns were raised with the pace of the land reform in a high- level panel report and by submissions made to their public hearings. There have been claims of corruption, of the department being incompetent to…

As a right to own a firearm activist and advocate for responsible private gun ownership, I am appalled at the accelerated shootings by gangs on the Cape Flats despite two gun amnesties and years of wasted time and money and energy. Calls by Gunfree SA to disarm responsible, honest, law-abiding gun owners via these amnesties in the hope of reducing crime and shootings on the Cape Flats has been a dismal failure. Not only have these gun amnesties not worked, they have in fact exasperated the problem by inadvertently encouraging poor gun owners to sell their firearms to gangsters rather than handing them in for destruction. Records will show that not a single firearm that was handed in for destruction was used in the commission of a crime. It follows…

Sihle Mavuso and Viasen Soobramoney PROFESSOR Salim Abdool Karim's resignation as co-chair of the Covid-19 ministerial advisory committee (MAC) on Covid-19 has elicited mixed reactions, with some stakeholders in the healthcare sector expressing shock and some political parties saying he failed to do his job. Karim’s departure from the committee which was tasked with advising Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize and the Cabinet on how to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the country, became public knowledge yesterday. He had been co-chairing the committee for a year and provided leadership when the country first went into a hard lockdown in March last year after cases of Covid-19 were reported. In a statement he issued yesterday, Karim said he was honoured to serve on the MAC and that as…

Faiez Jacobs THE Expropriation Bill and the proposed amendments to Section 25 of our Constitution address the long-standing aspirations of our people and their dream deferred finally coming into the realm of possibility. It’s a challenge because we must find the collective and political will to do right with our people, implement and redress “the original sin”. As the grandson of a family that was uprooted from my culture and heritage in Claremont, I am here for my grandfather, Booya Hajji Ebrahim Jacobs, who had the original deed of sale to Stadsig Farm (High Level Road, Cape Town), a claim that remains unsettled. I am here as a representative of a proud people that has trauma, deep scars and painful memories. I represent communities that make the Cape Flats…

Being in nature has benefits for people, as studies have shown. There’s ample evidence that experiences of nature have positive physical and psychological outcomes. But these insights have largely come from the Global North. There’s very little research on how urban communities in the Global South experience or view urban nature. A recently published book we co-edited, Urban Nature Enriching Belonging, Wellbeing and Bioculture, fills this gap. It highlights the diversity of experiences that people may have when interacting with nature in urban areas. The book contains many personal narratives about activities and practices that produce emotions like pride, belonging and joy. The reverse is also true, when people’s access or ability to do things associated with nature is constrained or impossible. Many spoke of deep heartache and…

US President Joe Biden this week tapped Vice-President Kamala Harris to oversee efforts to slow the rush of migrants to the southern border, handing her a high-profile and politically fraught assignment amid fresh concerns from lawmakers and activists about the growing crisis. The move came on the same day a delegation of senior White House officials and members of Congress visited a facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas, where migrant children are being held. The Biden administration is seeking urgently to process, shelter and care for thousands of young children and teenagers arriving at the border without their parents. Biden called Harris “the most qualified person” to lead the US dialogue with Mexico and Central American countries “that are going to need help in stemming the movement of so many folks”.…

Cairo: Egypt yesterday announced the full suspension of shipping in the Suez Canal, where efforts are under way to refloat a giant container ship that has run aground and disrupted traffic on one of the world’s busiest trade routes. The Panama-flagged ship Ever Given ran aground in the man-made canal on Tuesday due to a sandstorm, leaving dozens of other cargo vessels blocked from passing through the major waterway. The 400m-long tanker veered off course while sailing through the waterway on a Rotterdam-bound voyage from China. At least 206 container ships are unable to proceed. Attempts are being made to refloat the vessel, but one of the companies involved in efforts said it may take weeks. | IANS | Reuters…

Zintle Mahlati zintle.mahlati@inl.co.za BOARD members of the Solidarity Fund say funds dispensed from its coffers have been closely monitored with a tight vetting process. The fund was announced in March 23 last year by President Cyril Ramaphosa, days before the country went into a national lockdown. At the time, Ramaphosa said the fund was meant to provide a cushion for the economic and social impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The government provided seed capital of R150 million towards the fund. It was then opened for donations from business, civil society organisations and individuals. The fund’s board members held their first-quarterly briefing yesterday, where they outlined how much the fund has received thus far and how much it has spent towards social assistance in the country’s efforts to procure vaccines. Solidarity…

Samkelo Mtshali samkelo.thulasizwe@inl.co.za AS THE DA in KwaZulu-Natal prepares to elect a new provincial leader tomorrow, two of those contesting the position say they are gunning for municipalities governed by the ANC and IFP in the upcoming local government elections. The party in the province is set to choose a new leader following the decision by the incumbent provincial leader, Zwakele Mncwango, not to run for a third term as its chief in KZN. Mncwango’s tenure comes to an end almost six years after he first became provincial leader – in April 2015 – at a provincial congress in which he beat then DA provincial leader Sizwe Mchunu, now an ANC member, by seven votes. In February 2018, Mncwango retained his position as provincial leader after amassing 347 votes…

Sisonke Mlamla sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za CORRUPTION Watch (CW) said it received 4 780 complaints of corruption at an average rate of 11 complaints a day in 2020, despite lockdown regulations. The ninth annual corruption report, “From Crisis to Action”, was released yesterday by the organisation. It provided an overview of its anti-corruption efforts in 2020, a year marred by the Covid-19 pandemic, a defining global health crisis that exposed how deeply the culture of corruption was entrenched in the country. According to the report, CW said the public was increasingly outraged by the rampant corruption that emerged in relation to procurement and distribution of essential goods and services, including relief packages, necessitated by Covid-19. It said along with those deplorable acts during a time of emergency, equally shocking were the cases…

Councillor Mark RH Kleinschmidt | Ward 60, Lansdowne On Wednesday, March 24, it was with much sadness and horror that we learned of a Malawian cyclist being knocked down and killed near the Kenilworth Racecourse on Wetton Road, while running away from four thieves who robbed him of his bicycle. The thieves got away after the robbery, and the gentleman – in his mid-thirties – was unforunately knocked down by a speeding taxi while darting across road. It’s not the first time that a robbery has taken place at this section of Wetton Road. Speculation is that the criminals are from the Bonnytoun Informal Settlement, behind the Wynberg St John’s soccer fields. Cyclists and joggers are most vulnerable and have become victims of the heinous robberies, as well as…

Deadly heatwaves in South Asia are likely to become more common in the future, with the region’s exposure to lethal heat stress potentially nearly tripling if global warming isn’t curbed, researchers said. } Thomson Reuters Foundation But the threat could be halved if the world meets a goal set under the Paris Agreement on climate change to limit warming to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial times, researchers said in a study published this week by the American Geophysical Union, an international scientific association. “The future looks bad for South Asia, but the worst can be avoided by containing warming to as low as possible,” said Moetasim Ashfaq, a climate scientist at the US-based Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Still, with global temperatures already having risen more than 1ºC, “the need for adaptation…

IN RESPONSE to the leader in yesterday’s paper, let me provide some facts. In 2020 the entire world was caught off guard by a global pandemic that had devastating consequences for everyone. We rapidly adapted our systems to ensure continued service delivery to residents and implemented a range of interventions, including personal protective equipment provision for our front-line staff, innovative remote-working solutions, being the first city in the country to take council meetings online, and running a major humanitarian relief project, largely due to the national government’s shortcomings. We supported local businesses wherever possible, and provided thousands of Covid-19 safety kits, masks, hand sanitisers and safety signage. We lobbied the national government to scrap their race-based financial aid for businesses, but they refused. City staff worked overtime and on weekends…

Window of opportunity to implement a more accountable and democratic system South Africa adopted its electoral system during the process of making a new Constitution in the run up to its transition to democracy in 1994. The system agreed was proportional representation. This involved parties drawing up lists of representatives which would get seats in legislatures according to the proportion of votes the parties won in the polls. This system was chosen because it was seen as allowing maximum representation of different political opinions and ethnic identities. The system has worked well to represent minority parties along with recurrent ANC majorities. But some see it as working against accountability. This is because proportional representation hands power to party bosses, which in turn dis- empowers voters. MPs feel beholden to their…

News that India will delay deliveries of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine to the global programme to inoculating poor countries triggered alarm yesterday, with the head of Africa’s disease control agency describing the continent as “helpless”. Unicef, a UN agency responsible for distributing vaccines through the global COVAX programme, confirmed it expected deliveries of the vaccines to be delayed this month and next. AstraZeneca doses produced under licence in India form the overwhelming bulk of vaccines that COVAX has been anticipating for the initial months of its roll-out, which aims to vaccinate vulnerable people in the world’s poorest countries for free. “We understand that deliveries of Covid-19 vaccines to lower-income economies participating in the COVAX Facility will likely face delays following a setback in securing export licences for further doses of Covid-19…

Fighting around the Mozambique town of Palma, which is adjacent to gas projects worth $60 billion, entered a second day yesterday, two security sources said. Mozambique’s government confirmed that the town, in its northern-most province of Cabo Delgado and just kilometres from the perimeter of gas developments led by oil majors like Total, came under attack on Wednesday and security forces were trying to establish order. Palma falls within a 25km “special security area” that the French oil firm had requested from the government after suspending work at the site due to security issues. Mozambique’s forces had not yet repelled the attack by yesterday and fighting was ongoing, said sources in touch with officials. | Reuters…

HERMAN GIBBS THE Group C battle for places in next year's Africa Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon is set to go down to the wire after the top-of-the-table clash ended with Bafana Bafana and Ghana playing to a 1-1 draw in their penultimate 2022 qualifier at FNB Stadium last night. Following the result, Ghana are still at the top of the group by virtue of their superior goal difference with 10 points. Bafana, also on 10 points, are in second place followed by Sudan on nine points. All three teams will be in action on Sunday after which their qualification will be decided. South Africa had every chance of taking the game by the scruff of the neck in the fifth minute, after midfielders Themba Zwane and Percy…