Innholdsfortegnelse for CA-2021-04-12 i Cape Argus

Nomalanga Tshuma nomalanga.tshuma@inl.co.za SEVEN suspects are scheduled to appear in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court today over a business robbery in Hout Bay. The suspects are charged with breaking into business premises, possession of a prohibited firearm and ammunition and pointing of a firearm. They reportedly stole bottles of perfume and men’s cologne and packed it in big bags. Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said: “Seven suspects will appear in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Monday (today), on charges of a break-in of business premises, possession of prohibited firearm and possession of ammunition and pointing of a firearm. “The suspects aged between 29 and 40 were apprehended by police while attempting to evade police at the scene of the crime.” In a separate incident, three men linked to a taxi association…

| African News Agency (ANA) Africans need to shape the narrative about their history and tell their own stories, and this starts with education, said the chairperson of the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF), Vusumuzi Mkhize. “We must shape the narrative as Africans. We must also embed our own stories in our education system,” Mkhize said. “I think if we have proper education systems that are able to gather historical facts about Africa’s development, growth and past, we then are able to make sure our future generations take pride in their Africanness and take pride in terms of telling their own stories, by Africans for Africans.” Mkhize said Africans should build the capacity to have the necessary skills and expertise in universities to develop appropriate portfolios and historical information…

Peter-John Roman | Sunnyside, Athlone I READ recently that South Africa was rated 56th out of 56 countries in “The world’s safest and most dangerous roads”. Now, the writer wasn’t reprimanding South Africa or pointing out how this could be a true reflection of how bad our countries roads have become, no, the argument was rather that we were not actually bad as the selected countries consisted of mainly high-income countries. In other words, we are a Third World country and must be judged as such. On the one hand I tend to agree that we shouldn’t be judged solely by First World standards although, when it comes to certain values, we are judged by First World standards. For one, I also read that in 2021 we are…

Alejandro A Tagliavini | California, US FORMER senator Ron Paul says the president of Ukraine almost signed a declaration of war and backed by Washington, said Ukraine’s policy was to regain Crimea from Russia. The US Defence Secretary promised “unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty”. Washington is sending arms and they are already more than 300 tons. Moscow has responded by relocating troops to its border with Ukraine. By the way, a plebiscite among citizens would be enough for them to decide which government they want to have, if they want one. Paul is right in stating that “the irresponsible foreign policy ‘experts’ are about to lead us to war”. This is what the States are – these are the “authorities” and the “experts”: arms traffickers, literally, who mark…

Zainul Dawood zainul.dawood@inl.co.za Miss Universe South Africa, Natasha Joubert, 23, has revealed some of the outfits she will be wearing at the 69th Miss Universe pageant in Florida in the US on May 16, when our own Zozibini Tunzi crown her successor at the event. Joubert, a BComm graduate, felt she was fully prepared for competition. Her preparations started after being crowned Miss Universe SA last year. Joubert’s national costume – which she showed off at her Miss Universe farewell as part of her #DestinyDesigned virtual fashion show – has been designed by award-winning fashion designer to the stars Gert-Johan Coetzee, while Jolandie Fouche, of Jolache Couture, was responsible for a number of evening gowns for the pageant. Joubert would be carrying the children of South Africa with her when…

Pangolins: Scales of Injustice Richard Peirce Struik Nature Review: Orielle Berry IN ONE of the final chapters of his disturbingly frank and revealing book on pangolins, Richard Peirce writes that when he was interviewing a Bushman elder, Izak, he told the author that whoever killed a pangolin would have bad luck. Written before the start of the sweeping coronavirus pandemic, it was a somewhat prophetic and credible comment, as Peirce says, of the pangolin’s way of striking back against the human abuse of their species. The enigmatic and somewhat endearing pangolin is the most trafficked mammal in the world. In 2018, a scientific paper, according to Peirce, estimated that at least 400 000 were being harvested annually in Central Africa for their meat and scales; in 2019 over 97 tons of…

Africa could be testing ground for tech-enabled social engineering WITHIN a year, much of the world has adopted the norm of wearing masks to protect against the Covid-19 pandemic. Notwithstanding the political jostling that such face coverings have come to represent, it has become a social norm driven by circumstance. Scholars have undertaken extensive work on the life cycle of norms to demonstrate how they cascade into society and eventually become internalised. But to what extent does technology have a normative function – the power to shape human behaviour and deliver real-world consequences? In the absence of robust safeguards and in states with fragile democracies, could Africa become a testing ground for tech-enabled social engineering? Shaping norms or beliefs, governing how we vote, who we love and stirring up existing…

LONDON: The life of Prince Philip was celebrated at church services across Britain yesterday, with the Archbishop of Canterbury praying for those who found that the death of Queen Elizabeth’s husband had left a “very great gap” in their lives. Marking the third of eight days of national morning, people gathered at royal palaces to leave flowers. Religious and political leaders expressed support for the 94-year-old queen, the world’s oldest and longest-reigning monarch. At Canterbury Cathedral, Edward Elgar’s stirring Nimrod was played, the piece of music that accompanies many British funerals and memorial services and is played annually at the Cenotaph in London to mark the National Service of Remembrance.…

Mihlali Baleka mihlali.baleka@inl.co.za Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has lauded her players’ teamwork after the senior women’s national team claimed a comfortable 3-1 win over neighbours Zambia in an international friendly at Bidvest Stadium on Saturday afternoon. After being inactive for over a year since winning the Cosafa Championship title in Gqeberha late in 2019, Banyana returned to action this past weekend, hosting Zambia, who’ll be playing in the Tokyo Olympic Games from July. The Copper Queens drew first blood with captain and striker Barbra Banda putting her side in the lead with a screamer. Banyana, though, responded as Spanish-based defender Noko Matlou scored a brace before half-time. The South Africans wrapped up the match in the second half with golden girl Thembi Kgatlana getting on the scoresheet with her…

Sisonke Mlamla sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za POLICE in the Western Cape are investigating the death of an off-duty police officer, Malone Percival Lebello, who was shot and killed in Vrygrond yesterday. The 38-year-old Lebello, who was stationed at Steenberg police station, was found lying in Disa Road, Vrygrond, with four gunshot wounds to his head. Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said the circumstances surrounding the shooting incident, at about 1.40am on Sunday, were under investigation. Van Wyk said it was established that Lebello was an off-duty police sergeant. He said the suspect/s fled the scene and have yet to be arrested. The motive for the shooting is unknown. The incident comes three weeks after off-duty police officer Khangelani Magqabini, 40, who was stationed at Mowbray police station, was shot and killed outside…

Sisonke Mlamla sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za THE Langa community has been left reeling after two Fidelity Services guards were shot and killed in Zone 23, while escorting an Albany Bakeries vehicle on Saturday morning. One of the community members, who did not want to be named for fear of victimisation, said he was not sure whether those criminals were from the area or from outside the area. However, he said the incident had left the community in shock “because it is the first of its kind and we do not know if it is just the start of the worst”. He pleaded for police to consistently patrol and install street cameras. Albany Bakeries, a subsidiary of Tiger Brands, spokesperson Kanyisa Ndyondya said they were deeply concerned and saddened by the incident, and…

WE CITY folk consider ourselves under constant threat from crooks, muggers, politicians and other thieves and take all kinds of measures to protect ourselves from the baddies. We sign up with security companies, install burglar alarm systems, fit strong locks on our doors and install floodlights in our backyards. We often say we envy the “peace and tranquillity” of rural life, but fail to realise that farm life can also be a constant battle with baddies. Jackals, stock thieves and lynxes steal sheep, birds damage fruit crops and hawks steal chickens. Wild pigs eat whole sheep, barely bothering to spit out the bones. On the family farm in the Karoo they were recently bothered by a porcupine in the vegetable garden, so they set a cage trap and baited it…

Shakirah Thebus shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za WITH Phase 2 of the Covid-19 vaccination programme set to start next month, the province is trying to ensure that the vaccination of health-care workers is sped up. The province has administered all of the 53 820 vaccines it received as part of the Sisonke implementation study and should be receiving its fifth tranche by today, according to the provincial Health Department. Health Department spokesperson Maret Lesch said the registration portal for Phase 2 was not yet open. “More information on who must register, as well as where and when to register, will be made available as soon as details have been finalised by the national Department of Health,” said Lesch. Both the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine and the Pfizer vaccine will be administered during Phase…

The political temperatures are ratcheting up in an all-ready over-cooked South African political environment. As the country hurtles towards April 28, 2021 with the expectation that the ANC secretary-general Ace Mugashule and other members who have been charged with corruption or other serious crimes, will not step aside, it is up to the party’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, and the National Executive Committee (NEC) to enact the consequence of suspension in terms of the governing party’s constitution. In the vein of facing consequences, there is the war-mongering that comes from the fake Duduzane Zuma Twitter account. A tweet from the account yesterday said: "If its war they want, it is war they will get. My father won't choose anything. Let them decide, but they must be ready to deal with…

THE Ellis Park Stadium Disaster on April 11, 2001, will forever leave an indelible mark on the South African football landscape after 43 fans lost their lives that day while the Soweto Derby between arch-rivals Kaiser Chiefs and Orlando Pirates was in progress. Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary, and many families will remember loved ones who perished in the stampede that broke out when thousands of fans outside Ellis Park tried to gain entry. At the time, the existing entry points at the 60 000-seater could not cope with the sudden surge of fans arriving late. Just after spectators inside roared with delight after a goal was scored, the panic heightened, and people were crushed to death as fans steamrolled their way into the stadium. The depth and magnitude of…

The calls keep coming. A farmworker from Oaxaca dead in Florida. A construction worker from Zacatecas in Los Angeles. A housekeeper from Puebla in New York. For more than a year, Mexican consulates across the US have catalogued the toll the coronavirus has taken on America’s migrant workforce, one desperate phone conversation at a time. Thousands of Mexicans in the US, most of them undocumented immigrants deemed “essential workers” by state labour departments, have died of Covid-19. By one measure, the community’s death rate soared nearly 70%. Even in death, their immigration status haunted them. That’s where the Mexican diplomats came in: it was their job to repatriate the bodies of the pandemic dead. It was a task that ended up consuming vast parts of the government. At one point,…

Seoul: South Korean and US intelligence suspect that North Korea has completed the assembly of a 3 000-ton submarine and is ready to launch it when the time is right, media reported yesterday. “Both South Korea and US intelligence authorities made the assessment that North Korea has already finished building the submarine,” sources told the state Yonhap News Agency. According to the agency, North Korea has moved a submersible missile test barge to a new position, hinting at an upcoming submarine-launched ballistic missile test. “The authorities assess that North Korea is reviewing the right timing to roll out the submarine for a strategic effect, including maximising pressure on the US,” said a source…

Mike Greenaway mike.greenaway@inl.co.za South African rugby awoke yesterday to the news that the Rainbow Cup scheduled for April and June is almost certainly off. The cup, featuring the European teams that have just completed the PRO14, was to be a one-off “bridge” competition for the Stormers, Sharks, Bulls and Lions to enter European rugby, but reported objections from the England government have jeopardised the competition, which was due to kick off April 24. The four SA former Super Rugby teams are later this year set to join the Welsh, Irish, Scottish and Italian PRO14 teams in an expanded PRO18. It was reported in the UK over the weekend that the government of England had told the South African teams not to apply for visas. Sharks chief executive Eduard Coetzee confirmed…

STOLEN vehicles valued at more than R26 million were intercepted over the past three months by SANDF troops manning the borders as part of the long-running Operation Corona before they could be whisked into neighbouring countries. SANDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Seitebatso Pearl Block said contraband goods valued at more than R30 million, coming into South Africa from mainly Zimbabwe and Mozambique have also been confiscated by SANDF troops deployed for border safeguarding the past three months. “ From January 1 to March 31, the soldiers confiscated contraband goods to the value of R30 988 844, most of which came from Zimbabwe and Mozambique. “Stolen vehicles to the value of R26 393 531 were intercepted before they could illegally cross the borders. “Narcotics valued at R21 473 511 have been confiscated…

CIVIL rights movement #NotInMyName has written to President Cyril Ramaphosa, Gauteng police chief Elias Mawela and SA Human Rights Commission provincial head Buang Jones, demanding action on the rape allegations against beleaguered SA Football Association (Safa) boss Danny Jordaan by former ANC MP Jennifer Ferguson. “Back in 2018, Ms Jennifer Ferguson laid a criminal charge against Safa president Danny Jordaan. At the time, we at #NotInMyName joined South Africans from different walks of life who called for speedy justice and demanded accountability from Mr Jordaan. “In narrating her ordeal, Ms Ferguson made it clear that she had tried in vain to engage Mr Jordaan for a mediation process. She was seeking closure,” said #NotInMyName secretary-general Themba Masango. Masango said, in the letters to Ramaphosa, Mawela and Jones, the civil rights…

Michael Bagraim | Highlands Estate It is absolutely correct to state that temporary employment service providers do have a very significant and important role to play in the future job market of South Africa. Temporary employment seems to be one of the best ways in which individuals can get a foot in the door, and at least be able to gain a little bit of experience. The world seems to be moving in this direction and many job seekers, especially among the youth, want to just at least be able to gain a little bit of experience so that they can put something of substance in their curriculum vitae. Unfortunately, South African labour legislation and the trade unions (with their respective partners) seem to be wanting to ban…

Science is indeed a God-given, human ability, to recognise and classify natural patterns for survival. As such, what is known as science, can only comprehend natural and physical things, based on the development of theories, patterns that describe such theories, and proofs or evidence either through experiments or experience. This is the reason why there isn't and can never be, a purely scientific instrument to detect evil spirits or the Holy Spirit since science is spiritually blind and only naturally applicable. Therefore science can not lead to salvation or spiritual revelation although it does help spirituality by "discovering" natural patterns to enhance the spiritual understanding of divine phenomena. Even so, in Christian terms, faith is the proof or evidence of things and realities not yet seen or realised as recorded…

Councillor Zahid Badroodien | Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health. The City’s Recreation and Parks Department is aware of the Long Street Swimming Pool’s popularity, and we are doing what we can to ensure this grand old dame will once again delight visitors. The pool requires large-scale repairs to its cash registers, pool filters, electrical supply, water pipes, fire equipment and building infrastructure and cannot open until the work is complete. Due to the scope of the repairs, at this stage, we are unable to provide a re-opening time frame. We give careful consideration when doing repairs to avoid compromising an already ageing infrastructure.…

Shakirah Thebus shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za An Islamic litany recited in weekly spiritual gatherings in mosques and homes every Thursday and Sunday for more than 300 years was launched in book format in Cape Town yesterday. The Boorhaanol Islam Movement launched the revered and devotional Ratibul Haddaad book at the Bo-Kaap Cultural Hub in Pentz Street. The historic litany is believed to have been brought to the Cape by Sheikh Yusuf, of Macassar, an Indonesian Muslim exiled to the Cape of Good Hope. The launch also came in the month in which he arrived in 1694. Sheikh Yusuf established the first Muslim community on the southern tip of Africa, and introduced a large number of slaves to Islam, through it alongside his teachings. The litany is believed to have spiritually sustained them…

Sne Masuku sne.masuku@inl.co.za THE poorest of the poor households have to dig deeper into their pockets due to the recent hikes in the prices of fuel and electricity, making it harder for them to put food on the table and meet their everyday needs. Fuel prices shot up on April 1, with 93 octane increasing by 95 cents per litre and 95 octane by R1 per litre. The price of diesel rose by between 63c and 65c. In a double blow for South Africans, the cost of electricity went up by 15% this month. The Automobile Association attributed the hikes to international oil prices and fuel levies, among other factors. Economist Professor Bonke Dumisa said people should cut out what they could do without in order to survive. He said…

Mpiletso Motumi mpiletso.motumi@inl.co.za EVERYONE has a Dr Sindi story. Even people who have never met the doctor have a story to tell about how she touched them through her medical advice and kind-hearted nature. When news of the doctor’s death after a two-month fight with Covid-19 was made public at the weekend, friends and fans of the 45-year-old relayed their stories about how they met her. Dr Sindi van Zyl was not only an accessible doctor to anyone who needed her time and help, but she also shared her life with her many followers across her social media platforms. Just last week, the nation rallied around the doctor to help pay her medical bills that were running into millions of rand. Through the help of individuals and companies such as…

Elizabeth & Margaret: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters Andrew Morton Grand Central Review: Louis Bayard With the sad passing of Prince Philip, this timely book offers insight into Queen Elizabeth II and her sister Princess Margaret. The Windsors have long ceased to be a fairy tale unless you mean the kind where the dragon devours all the princes and princesses and refuses to cough them back up. The dragon’s identity has been open to debate, but the recent Oprah Winfrey confessathon with Harry and Meghan suggests the culprit all along has been the hazy behemoth that Harry’s grandfather first dubbed “the Firm”. It’s a title that twines usefully with the John Grisham novel, if only to suggest that the British monarchy is both organised and a crime – at least…

Captain Ravi Naicker On March 24, 1989, the serenity of Alaska’s Prince William Sound was shattered when the Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker, spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil. Oil spills are complex and dealing with them often requires multinational co-operation, as well as industry, civic, and inter-governmental co-operation across all spheres. It can take weeks or months to stop the spill and initiate a clean-up. The effects can last for years. South Africa has almost 3 000km of coastline and our oceans’ economy drives tourism, provides jobs and ensures a massive boost to the economy. Operation Phakisa, which was introduced in 2014, is focused on unlocking the economic potential of South Africa’s oceans, which could contribute up to R177 billion to our GDP by 2033 and between…

Fierce fighting for Yemen’s strategic Marib city had killed 70 pro-government and Houthi rebel fighters in 24 hours yesterday, with battles raging on three fronts, military officials said. The Houthis have been trying to seize Marib, the capital of an oil-rich region and the government’s last significant pocket of territory in the north, since February.Two officials from pro-government forces said the rebels were mounting a concerted push that had left 26 loyalist soldiers dead as well as 44 from Houthi ranks. The rebels rarely disclose their losses. The new toll adds to 53 killed on both sides in the previous 24 hours, military officials said. One said yesterday the rebels “are launching simultaneous attacks” in the areas of Kassara and Al-Mashjah, northwest of the city, and Jabal Murad in the…

Montreal: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday promised a green recovery and lambasted his Conservative rivals in a speech with a strong electoral flavor, as he closed out a virtual convention for his Liberal party. “Together, we have accomplished a lot of things... but the work is far from being finished,” Trudeau told the meeting, amid speculation of an electoral campaign in the coming months. The Liberals were returned to office with a minority government in October 2019, a situation that fuels early election rumors, even though Trudeau has rejected going to the polls during the pandemic. “While we are fighting to end the pandemic... we must prepare for what comes after,” Trudeau said.…