Innholdsfortegnelse for 2021-09-03 i Cape Argus

Sisonke Mlamla sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za THE distraught family of a slain off-duty police officer, and unions are calling for the government and police management to reintroduce police villages and barracks where officers would live in greater safely and be protected at all times. Sergeant Andile Sirunu, 46, a member of the Lentegeur police station's visible policing unit, was shot yesterday after apparently being hijacked. Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said Sirunu was shot in the neck and was transported to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. His son, Bonga Sirunu, 28, said the family was still in shock but felt that criminals were targeting police officers. Sirunu said his father was very humble man, and loved his family. He said they had never imagined life without their father,…

Plumbing college to plug gap of female artisans Sisonke Mlamla sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za THE React Training College, the first black women-owned plumbing and artisan college has all systems in place to bridge the skills gap in the country. The college, in Parow, is a construction, education and training authority (Ceta) accredited college. Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille visited the college yesterday to see the work that has been done in the short time of the college’s existence. She engaged the founders and students on their work and the importance of empowering more women to claim their space in the construction and related industries. De Lille said the React Training college had provided competency-based modular training with innovative plumbing techniques. She said the founders, Celeste Le Roux, Charmaine Jampies…

Mthuthuzeli Ntseku mthuthuzeli.ntseku@inl.co.za THE City’s contentious Unlawful Occupation by-law and the Streets, Public Places and Prevention of Noise Nuisances by-law are among a raft of by-laws approved by the Safety and Security Portfolio Committee. Other by-laws are amendments to the Traffic by-law and the Animal Keeping by-Law. Safety and Security Portfolio Committee chairperson Mzwakhe Nqavashe said all four pieces of legislation went through a process of public participation before being finalised for approval. He said the approval by the Portfolio Committee was the first step, the documents would serve before the Mayoral Committee and the final approval would need to be obtained from the full council. “As chairperson of the committee that drove these processes, I am incredibly thankful for the inputs we received on these matters. And while…

Speaking at the Hendrik Johannes van der Bijl Memorial Lecture on August 17, Eskom’s chief executive, Andre de Ruyter, argued that South Africa’s opening to global market forces in the 1990s was premature and exposed the lack of competitiveness in the country’s manufacturing base. He fell short, however, of acknowledging that the apartheid project was unjust and left behind an unequal and impoverished society whose scars are defined by race. Sam Ashman goes some way to filling these historical gaps, laying bare the minerals and energy foundations on which our unequal society was built. Historically, energy infrastructure in South Africa – an intervention by Afrikaners in a political economy dominated by foreign-owned mining companies – has been at the centre of injustices against the black majority. But what should South…

China has challenged the US to fix relations with Beijing to make progress on climate change, the foreign ministry said yesterday, as Washington’s climate envoy visited to press the world’s top polluter to slash emissions. Tensions between China and the US have soared as they trade barbs on Beijing’s initial handling of Covid-19. Foreign Minister Wang Yi told US climate envoy John Kerry that co-operation on global warming could not be disentangled from broader diplomacy between the two countries. | AFP…

Thobile Mazibuko thobile.mazibuko@inl.co.za Joburgers, brace yourselves for an art-curated fashion week this month. Midwest Fashion Week has announced that it will be hosting a CONNEXIONS fashion show in South Africa. Midwest Fashion Week is a US platform dedicated to empowering creativity and the expression of individuality Now it’s been extended to South Africa to allow local designers to showcase their brands. CONNEXIONS is a virtual fashion show started by style and entertainment reporter Jen Su. It focuses on growing the already established fashion community beyond the Midwest and opening up markets for designers based in other parts of the world through a series of regional events It was inspired by Berny Martin, an avid traveller, who is passionate about African cultures across the globe, and finding ways of connecting creative…

Bang Showbiz The 39-year-old reality show star has insisted that if they ever brought back the iconic show The Simple Life, which saw her and best friend Paris Hilton, 40, leave their luxurious lifestyles behind to live in modest digs, more psychological support would be needed because of the fact they had to leave their cellphones at home. Nicole Richie – who has Harlow, 13, and Sparrow, 11, with her Good Charlotte rocker husband Joel Madden – said recently: “It would be hard now because we’re older and we’ve travelled and we’ve been everywhere. “If you took someone’s phone away right now, you’d have to have a therapist on site and make sure they were okay. No one’s trying to deal with all that, including me. So, I think it…

Thobile Mazibuko thobile.mazibuko@inl.co.za Emma Willemse and Michael Blake recently opened their exhibition titled Disrupt: A Visual and Sound Exchange Project at the Union House Exhibition Space in Cape Town. Running until September 29, Willemse’s exhibition incorporates her conceptual artworks exhibited at the 1:54 African Art Fair in London in 2018. The artist’s previous works have been brought back to South Africa by the Spier Arts Trust to feature at Union House. Disrupt comprises an exhibition and sound performance collaboration between the conceptual visual artist and Blake, a contemporary classical music composer. Natasha Venzke, who has visited the exhibition, said: “The focus of the exhibition is an installation called 101 ways to long for a home. “Made from discarded and found objects, it is concerned with the traumatic experience of…

Mthuthuzeli Ntseku mthuthuzeli.ntseku@inl.co.za THE Tin Can Town, a rehabilitation and animal rescue organisation, said it had seen a sudden rash of dog poisonings in the area around Blikkiesdorp. This after five dogs died from poisoning last week in separate incidents, including two in Delft. Tin Can Town co-founder Rosemarie Kunneke said the organisation did not know who was behind the poisonings. “We don't know who is doing it or the poison they are using, but what we have seen is that the dogs started vomiting and they had seizures. The latest victim, which we have known for years, used to chase the mischief-makers down the street to protect his family, and for this reason he was not very popular amongst these trouble-seekers. This probably caused his death. “We have…

Shakirah Thebus shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za IN THE month dedicated to showcasing and celebrating our heritage, the Constantia Heritage and Education Project (CHEP) will launch its exhibition and archive, centred on the lesser known displaced communities of Groot Constantia. Hidden Rivers: The Untold Story of the People of Konstansie (Groot Constantia), presented by the CHEP, UCT’s Centre for Curating the Archive and independent photographer Kent Andreasen, will launch this evening at the Groot Constantia Wine Estate. CHEP founding member and director Dr Claire-Anne Lester, pictured, said it was a culmination of years of oral history work and creating a network of Constantia’s dispersed community split up by the Group Areas Act. “These images depict myriad experiences related to home, displacement and memory, or connection to land and place,” said Lester. The multi-faceted…

Tarryn-Leigh Solomons tarryn-leigh.solomons@inl.co.za GENDER activists have described the approach to gender-based violence (GBV) cases as “lukewarm” saying the scourge has to be treated as an epidemic. The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Wednesday passed GBV bills which includes the Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Bill, Domestic Violence Amendment Bill and the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill. The bills were introduced in Parliament following a presidential summit against gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) in 2018. Amendments to the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill include the legislation regulating the National Register for Sex Offenders (NRSO). This amendment seeks to expand the scope of the NRSO to “include the particulars of all sex offenders and not only sex offenders against children and persons who…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za POWER utility Eskom is owed R35.3 billion by municipalities nationwide and one of its biggest defaulters has been forced to pay more than R1.35bn including 2.5% interest of its spiralling R3.5bn debt. The troubled eMfuleni local municipality in the Vaal in Gauteng has been ordered by the North Gauteng High Court to pay Eskom more than R1.35bn plus 2.5% interest after the entity sued it as its debt continues to spiral out of control. According to Eskom, the total amount of municipal debt arrears has escalated by R7.3bn and stood at R35.3bn, including interest by the end of March this year, compared with R28bn last year. The utility lists eMfuleni among the top 10 defaulting municipalities owing it R24bn in arrears debt or 68% of total…

| African News Agency (ANA) FAKE news about the alleged effects of being inoculated against Covid-19 has largely driven vaccine hesitancy and is a worry for the government, Deputy President David Mabuza said yesterday. “It is important for all of us to vaccinate, and that is why we are here. We are still going to visit our people ... because the message must now go to them. We are no longer going to wait here at the vaccination sites,” Mabuza said during a Covid-19 vaccine roll-out outreach programme at Mogale City in Gauteng’s West Rand. He was flanked by Gauteng Premier David Makhura and head of health Nomathemba Mokgethi. “We are going to take the vaccine to our people. Some are reluctant, some are having fake news, rumours about…

An active and participatory response to government policies should be the mandate of all youth-led organisations. We as the youth of South Africa, and those who purport to be advocates of youth leadership, must hold ourselves and the government as a partner, accountable to the promise of a better future. The National Youth Policy was launched by the Minister of the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities on March 5, 2021 under the theme of: “A decade of accelerating positive youth development”. At the launch of the policy, Minister Nkoana-Mashabane reiterated the need for the youth to be involved in policy-making and promised the prioritisation of youth development. Therefore, the youth of South Africa cannot be found missing in action in the implementation and popularisation of documents that…

An Italian student has got a Covid-19 vaccine QR (Quick Response) code tattooed on his arm, As Covid-19 “vaccine passes” become more common to access public spaces, Andrea Colonnetta, 22, decided to permanently prove that he was vaccinated. He became an internet sensation after he posted his new ink on Instagram. In Italy, anyone wishing to dine indoors or attend anl event has to present a “Green Pass” upon entry. Italy had about 4.5 million Covid-19 cases and 120 000 deaths. | African News Agency (ANA)…

Nigerian farmer Nwale Nchimaonwi celebrated when he learnt that an oil law to overhaul the industry and improve the plight of communities living on crude-producing land had passed after two decades wait. His Niger Delta region has long seethed with discontent as communities face a potent mix of poverty, crude pollution and state neglect despite the wealth pumped from the ground beneath them. But Nchimaonwi’s enthusiasm soon gave way to anger after it emerged that the law demanded oil companies contribute only 3% of operating costs to communities, far below the 10% they see as fair compensation. Disappointment with the Petroleum Industry Bill is again testing patience in Nigeria’s delta where many lost farming and fishing livelihoods to contamination even as foreign oil giants pumped crude from Africa’s largest producer.…

HERMAN GIBBS THE recent buying and selling of football clubs in South Africa has shaken the foundations of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) and left fans with a bitter aftertaste. It sounds a bit far-fetched, but the horse-trading that saw two franchises change hands in as many days prompted a commentator to raise suspicion that the acquisition of PSL teams could easily be equated to “money laundering”. But, of course, the local football landscape is not a playground for tycoons who need to buy football clubs to launder money, as has happened in England, for example. Football does not require a buyer for a club to prove the source of their money, unlike when purchasing a property. As a result of money laundering activity in the past, property buyers adhere…

B POSITIVE M-NET, DSTV CHANNEL 101, 7PM An entertaining premiere of this comedy series. Drew, a newly divorced dad who is faced with finding a kidney donor when he runs into Gina, a rough-around-the-edges woman from his past who volunteers her own. DEN OF THIEVES M-NET CITY, DSTV CHANNEL 115, 9PM This gritty crime drama sends an elite unit of cops and a group of violent outlaws on a collision course when the criminals plot a deadly heist on the Federal Reserve Bank. THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH JAMES CORDEN M-NET CITY, DSTV CHANNEL 115, 11PM James Corden throws the ultimate late night after-party in this Emmy winning talk show.…

| African News Agency (ANA) TWO suspects are expected to appear in the Athlone Magistrate’s Court soon, following a drug bust where drugs estimated at R750 000 were seized in Gugulethu. Police spokesperson Joseph Swartbooi said Anti-Gang Unit officers received information and immediately headed to an address in NY 155, Gugulethu where they found mandrax tablets with a street value of R750 000, two 9mm pistols with ammunition and bank cards. Two suspects, aged 28 and 32, were arrested in Wednesday’s raid. Swartbooi said during an unrelated incident in Philippi East, police officers on patrol noticed three suspicious men and as the patrol vehicle approached them they fled, firing shots at the officers. “The members returned fire, wounding one of the suspects, who was transported to a nearby hospital,…

Samkelo Mtshali samkelo.thulasizwe@inl.co.za YUNIS Shaik, cousin of the late Dr Hoosen Haffejee, yesterday gave moving testimony at an inquest probing the circumstances surrounding the death of the 26-year-old Pietermaritzburg dentist. Haffejee was found hanging in his cell at the Brighton Beach Police Station in the early hours of the morning on August 3, 1977. Shaik, an attorney by training and a trade unionist who later became a businessman, told Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Zaba Nkosi that Haffejee was his cousin by virtue of their fathers being brothers. He said his father’s brother, Goolam Subedar, had inducted him and Haffejee into politics. Shaik also revealed that Haffejee was a combatant and that the Security Branch police officers would have been brutal in their bid to obtain information from him. Shaik told…

Minister asks whistle-blowers to not retreat Mayibongwe Maqhina mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za MINISTER in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele has appealed to whistle- blowers to not retreat in exposing fraud, criminality and thieving. “The only way we can actually save this country and keep it back on track, to have the economy perform and make South Africa a destination for investment, is when we prevail over criminality and fraud. We will always need their (whistle-blowers’) support and we commit to their protection at all material times,” Gungubele said yesterday. He made the statement during a media briefing on the outcomes of the Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday. Gungubele said that the Cabinet welcomed the arrest of seven suspects in connection with the recent murder of Gauteng Health Department CFO Babita Deokaran. “Ms Deokaran was…

Siyabonga Mkhwanazi siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za THE ball is now in the court of the justice committee after Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula referred Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe’s impeachment case to that committee for processes to be followed. The Judicial Service Commission last week found Judge Hlophe guilty of gross misconduct. Mapisa-Nqakula said it would require a two-thirds majority of members of the National Assembly to remove Judge Hlophe from office. Other parties in Parliament agreed that a two-thirds majority was the threshold for the impeachment of a judge. “It is important for us to note that even though we have section 177 of the Constitution, which talks to the removal of a judge, I am informed that here in terms of regulations we have nothing which talks to how it should be…

Kristin Engel kristin.engel@inl.co.za TABLE Mountain National Park (TMNP) has announced its newly elected Park Forum office-bearers to ensure all issues affecting the park were addressed and resolved with the appropriate attention. TMNP park manager Frans van Rooyen said the Park Forum office-bearers were classified into three working committees: recreational users and previously disadvantaged Groups; safety and security and partnerships; and the maintenance and permit system. “The Park Forum team will serve a two-year term in office, while the Park Forum management will serve on a six-month rotational basis, and this was part of the terms of reference that the teams had agreed upon,” Van Rooyen said. “TMNP will serve as a supportive structure to make sure that the forum meets on a quarterly basis to address and solve issues that…

Kristin Engel kristin.engel@inl.co.za ALTHOUGH spring has arrived, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) has appealed to the public to be cautious and use the NSRI RSA SafeTrx free cellphone application when they are, on or near bodies of water, because winter sea conditions of rough seas, strong winds and stormy conditions still prevail. This was after they responded to a number of calls around the Western Cape over the past few days. In Yzerfontein, NSRI duty commander Junre Marais said they had recently responded to and intercepted a number of incidents, including a boat whose crew appeared to be struggling to recover their boat that was threatening to capsize, a fishing vessel requesting medical assistance, and a commercial fishing boat reported to be taking water and sinking with 10…

Renowned Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, who scored the 1964 classic Zorba the Greek and was an icon of resistance to the former military junta, has died in Athens aged 96, a hospital said yesterday. He was adulated in his home country for his inspirational music and defiance during the junta that ruled from 1967-74. But he was perhaps best-known for his film title scores which also included Z in 1969 and Serpico in 1973. During a 1967 coup, he was among the first left-wing politicians to be arrested. | AFP…

As the Taliban leadership closed in on forming a government on Wednesday, its fighters were attacking the last bastion of Afghanistan not under their control, seeking to consolidate their military and political grip on the country. In northern Afghanistan, heavy fighting erupted on Tuesday night and continued into Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Taliban leadership met in its southern spiritual birthplace of Kandahar to discuss the formation of an Islamic government. It’s a major step that will formalise the Taliban’s transition from an insurgent movement to once again ruling the country after the 20 years of war that followed the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US. The three-day-long engagement was chaired by Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, a religious scholar who is widely expected to become the country’s supreme leader, suggesting the new…