Innholdsfortegnelse for 2021-11-03 i Cape Argus

AS a myriad ambitious aspirant councillors and political parties across the country awaited with bated breath the outcomes of this year’s local government elections, it was expected that some would seek to apportion blame elsewhere for their less than optimal performances. Some would find a soft target in the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) – unreasonably so, when one considers how far South Africa has progressed in its electoral processes since the dawn of democracy in 1994. The first election, appropriately momentous though it was, was absolute chaos. In fact, its credibility was so dubious in certain highly contested parts of the country, such as KwaZulu-Natal, that to this day it is acknowledged that the election was rigged on a massive scale. It took the intervention of the national…

GIYANI: LAND OF BLOOD SABC2, DSTV CHANNEL 192, 9.30PM Richard returns home after spending time in prison. With no money and no influence, he gets back into business with the hope of turning his life around and away from crime. There is a new lady at his side, but is she all she pretends to be? Is she the saviour he is looking for or will she wreak havoc in his family and the community, putting all that they have worked so hard for at risk? LEGACY S2 M-NET, DSTV CHANNEL 101, 7PM Robbie gets exciting news, and Denise drops a devastating truth bomb on Angelique. The trail seems to have gone cold for Marco – or has it? WIE WORD ’N MILJOENÊR KYKNET, DSTV CHANNEL 144, 8PM…

Feeling blue? Add some charm to your sweet abode with intoxicating fragrances. Enchanting and alluring aromas can help fill any living space with joy and happiness, curating a blend of sophistication and luxury for a tranquil atmosphere where you can sit and seek solace while sipping your favourite cuppa. Here are some fragrances/aromatic oils you can use at your sweet abode to keep you in high spirits: Sandalwood: A highly valued fragrant woods widely used in perfumery and other cosmetics for its healing properties, this has a captivating aroma and precious-woody scent imparting a long-lasting effect. Its use can be traced back to thousands of years during the ancient civilisations. In aromatherapy, its oil is used to calm tired minds and enhance sleep quality. Studies suggest that its fragrance may…

Chulumanco Mahamba chulumanco.mahamba@inl.co.za SOUTH Africans have rallied to raise funds for the medical bills of a 9-year old boy who was attacked by a pig. On September 30, Luke Mulvey was attacked by a 250kg mother sow that he has looked after as a pet for the past two years. The boy, who lives on a smallholding in Lovemore Park, Eastern Cape, had flown kites with his father and stopped by the pig pen to check on their sow and her piglets. The boy was not, however, expecting the sow to be uneasy about his presence, as the pig was usually friendly and placid, but she charged at him to protect her newborn babies. “She recently had babies and she didn’t mind it previously when we went in to video…

All parties condemn IEC for thousands of names that were left off the roll despite them registering Mwangi Githahu mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za DESPITE being in the lead with 52.8% of votes cast in the province and 214 seats won during Monday’s local government elections, the DA’s provincial leadership remained cautious yesterday as the results continued trickling in to the IEC results centre in Century City. Responding to a question about his party’s 33% lead over the ANC, which at that point had 19% of the votes cast, Premier Alan Winde said: “If you’ve been through a few elections you know there is still a long way to go. “There’s a lot of votes still to be verified and its all the big voting stations. Right now it is only the small stations…

LOYISO SIDIMBA, BALDWIN NDABA and NTOMBI NKOSI THE ANC in Gauteng may yet again have to propose marriage to smaller parties in the region. This comes as the battle for control of the metropolitan municipalities in Gauteng heats up. By 6pm yesterday, the ANC, DA and EFF were still battling to reach more than 50% of votes in the cities of Tshwane, Joburg and Ekurhuleni. In the City of Joburg, the ANC sat firmly at 36.05% with the DA at 23.5% and ActionSA at 17.82% of votes. In Ekurhuleni, the ANC held 37.35% of the votes, while the DA obtained 30.6% and the EFF 13.29%. But there was a different picture in Tshwane, with the DA leading the pack at 38.37%, the ANC trailing behind at 29.44% and the…

MOHAMED SAEED | Pietermaritzburg THE local government elections are over and voters have exercised their right to vote, now what comes next? After every democratic election, it is important to keep in mind that our civic duty does not end at the ballot box. Political and active civic participation requires more than individuals registering their votes every few years. No matter the choice of candidate voted for, citizens need to be involved, informed and continue to make their voices heard on mismanagement, bad governance, incompetence and poor service delivery issues. Elected officials need to be competent, responsive, responsible, and accountable, fulfil election campaign promises and manifestos and deliver on their assurances given to the voters, including quality service delivery. New and even seasoned councillors should receive mentoring and…

COLIN BOSMAN | Newlands WITH the municipal elections done and the dust still to settle, it remains to be seen how many promises will be kept by various politicians, or will we have a new family of “Piet Promises” Koornhof of old, who undertook many things on behalf of his party but delivered very few? First prize has to go to Malema for suggesting that unemployed university graduates should be paid a stipend by the government. This suggestion that will never happen must nevertheless have put a few ticks next to the EFF’s name on the ballot paper. ANC promises to turn over a new leaf and do better next time are met with a smile. Looking at the disaster in the Orange Free State with no water in many…

Kristin Engel kristin.engel@inl.co.za A DIGITALLY innovative My Smart City platform aims to assist with service delivery issues that municipalities are struggling with. City spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibongo said as part of the City’s open data strategy, the City made its service request API available to responsible external organisations such as Acumen, which allows external organisations to build their own apps and link these to the City of Cape Town, provided they comply with the City’s security requirements and use the API responsibly. “Acumen, the developers of the My Smart City app, is one of the organisations that is making use of this offering. Apps like these create an additional channel or entry point for service delivery requests from customers,” said Tyhalibongo. Acumen Software chief executive Joao Zoio said municipalities are under…

Nomalanga Tshuma nomalanga.tshuma@inl.co.za THE police, the Electoral Commission (IEC) and the City’s safety and security directorate said there were no major incidents between Monday’s voting day and yesterday in the province. Despite other provinces having recorded major disruptions and/or criminal activity pertaining to the voting process, the provincial safety and security role-players said they only attended to a few minor disturbances. National police spokesperson Vish Naidoo said: “In the Western Cape, there were only minor incidents, such as disputes, and short disruptions, nothing major. Our biggest problems lie in KZN, the Eastern Cape and Gauteng. “The Western Cape was unproblematic. We had only one case opened in Da Gama Park when conflict arose between representatives from two political parties. The one opened a case against the other.” The City’s safety…

The six years since the Paris Climate Agreement have been the six hottest years on record. Our addiction to fossil fuels is pushing humanity to the brink. We face a stark choice: Either we stop it – or it stops us. It’s time to say: enough. Enough of brutalising biodiversity. Enough of killing ourselves with carbon. Enough of treating nature like a toilet. Enough of burning and drilling and mining our way deeper. We are digging our own graves. Our planet is changing before our eyes – from the ocean depths to mountain tops, from melting glaciers to relentless extreme weather events. Sea-level rise is double the rate it was 30 years ago. Oceans are hotter than ever – and getting warmer faster. Parts of the Amazon Rainforest…

Tesla Inc is recalling nearly 12 000 US vehicles sold since 2017 because a communication error may cause a false forward-collision warning or unexpected activation of the automatic emergency braking system, reports said yesterday. The California automaker said the recall of 11,704 Model S, X, 3 and Y vehicles was prompted after a software update on last month to vehicles in its limited early access Full-Self Driving (Beta) population. The company has released new software to address the issue. | Reuters…

Jake Cline | The Washington Post In the early months of 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic emptied our streets, forced us into our homes and turned down the volume on our noisy outdoor lives, species that typically existed on the periphery of our awareness wandered into view. Reports spread across the internet of long-haired mountain goats gambolling through a town in Wales, jackals crowding a park in Tel Aviv and pumas venturing into residential neighbourhoods in Santiago, Chile. Evidence of these and other sightings may have long since fallen off social media feeds, but this year has seen a significant number of books whose authors emphasise the need to pay close attention to other species and never look away again. How little we actually know about animals – domesticated…

Mwangi Githahu mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za JUDGMENT in the case of Cape Town law-enforcement officer Morne Horn, who in October last year was charged with two counts of murder for shooting and killing undercover police officer Thandimfundo Sigcu and a suspect, Bongani Jack, has been postponed until November 18. During his trial Horn, who pleaded not guilty, admitted that on January 7, 2020, while on duty at about 9pm and accompanied by fellow law-enforcement officer Lubabalo Blom, he fired two shots at Sigcu, whom he mistook for a robber after seeing his firearm. During an encounter on Heerengracht Street, Horn and Blom questioned Sigcu, who tried to explain who he was and that he was arresting Jack for being in possession of drugs. Sigcu died on the scene of the shooting as…

Mayibongwe Maqhina mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za THE DA and the ANC are likely to be the biggest losers as the small parties appear to be making inroads in the metropolitan municipality. The preliminary results from the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) showed that in Cape Town, the Good Party, Cape Coloured Congress and Patriotic Alliance have eaten from the support base of the DA and ANC. Briefing the media yesterday, Western Cape provincial electoral officer Michael Hendrickse said the electoral body has concluded counting votes in the province. “We are busy with results capturing,” Hendrickse said. He said 60% of the results from the voting station across the province have been captured. Hendrickse also said as soon the results were captured, there would seat allocation in terms of wards and proportional…

Jacques Moolman | President of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry ON the eve of the local election, the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry offered all the mayoral candidates in Cape Town a platform to tell a significant slice of private business what practical steps they would take if elected. The offer was an internet soapbox in the form of an open Zoom session hosted by well-known radio host. Candidates were asked to respond to two questions. The first was what would they do to encourage economic growth. The second was how would they unblock procurement bottlenecks to speed up construction projects. For 90 minutes, candidates had a chance to say something we have not heard before, something solid, practical and measurable. Real targets in other…

Kristin Engel kristin.engel@inl.co.za LOCAL environmental organisations have called on the leaders at the UN Climate Change Conference to urgently address the issue of animal agriculture, the second-largest global emitter of CO2 with intensive livestock farming responsible for 14.5-16.5% of the world’s human-made greenhouse gas emissions. Four Paws Animal Welfare Foundation chief executive Josef Pfabigan urged world leaders to acknowledge and tackle animal welfare and agriculture in their discussions. “Animal agriculture is the second-largest global emitter of CO2. “Each year, 88 billion animals are raised and then slaughtered for food consumption. “Intensive livestock farming is responsible for 14.5-16.5% of the world’s human-made greenhouse gas emissions, exceeding emission levels from global transport combined,” said Pfabigan.…

Mthuthuzeli Ntseku mthuthuzeli.ntseku@inl.co.za With the local elections results trickling in it is clear that voters have chosen to remain loyal to their political parties rather than voting for change in their communities. This is a sentiment shared by community activists and organisations following Monday’s local elections. In the province the results are showing the DA leading, followed by the ANC. The Greatest People of South Africa chairperson Zintle Khobeni said those who exercised their right and responsibility to vote had chosen to remain loyal to the ruling party despite the many challenges that were facing different, marginalised communities. “That is worrying, however we are excited to see that there is a growing number of people who have opted to give independent candidates an opportunity and we are very happy…

Delhi police have seized four tons of illegal polluting firecrackers as the Indian megacity heads into its winter smog season when its 20 million people regularly choke on putrid grey-yellow air. Millions of firecrackers are set off during Diwali, which takes place later this week across the nation of 1.3 billion people. In Delhi smoke mixes with car exhaust, factory emissions, construction dust and burning crop stubble from nearby states to worsen a poisonous cocktail that exceeds safe limits by 20 times. | AFP…

World leaders yesterday issued a multibillion-dollar pledge to end deforestation by 2030, a promise met with scepticism by environmental groups who say more urgent action is needed to save the planet’s lungs. According to summit hosts the British government, the pledge is backed by almost $20 billion (about R309bn) in public and private funding and is endorsed by more than 100 leaders representing over 85% of the world’s forests, including the Amazon rainforest, Canada’s northern boreal forest and the Congo Basin rainforest. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the agreement on deforestation was pivotal to the overarching goal of limiting temperature rises to 1.5°C – the most ambitious Paris Agreement target. “Climate change and biodiversity are two sides of the same coin,” Johnson said. “We can’t deal with the devastating…

Given Majola SEVERAL challenges that various agribusinesses and farmers face fall within local government competencies, says the Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz). The chamber’s chief economist, Wandile Sihlobo, said this week that the primarily critical issues like poor road maintenance, electricity supply and water interruptions were also vital hindrances to investment and growth in the agriculture and agribusiness sector. These were also identified in the sector’s Master Plan. Sihlobo said most of the national government’s agricultural policies and programmes depend on implementation by the provincial governments and municipalities for their success. “The policies crafted in Pretoria have to find their way in various local agricultural strategies to materialise. The same goes for organised agriculture structures such as Agbiz. The engagements about multiple issues that constrain agribusinesses can be discussed with…

Gerry Cupido geraldine.cupido@inl.co.za Summer days are steadily approaching and we’re feverishly re-organising our wardrobes, banishing all signs of winter – the heavy coats, the chunky jerseys and thermal underwear – to the back of your closet. I’m sure many of you are already starting to work on your tan, preferably fake tans because no one is going to bake in the sun for a bit of colour. I’m certainly not ready to expose any flesh. It hasn’t seen the sun for months and has gone an even lighter shade of already pale! Oh, how I do look forward to wearing airy summer dresses again. You know, the ones that are long and flowing and just make you feel like a goddess. Make that a white flowing summer dress and I’ll…

Bongani Nkosi bongani.nkosi@inl.co.za A REPORT commissioned by the Department of Basic Education has dispelled the government’s earlier findings that more than half a million learners dropped out of school due to Covid-19. Released in July, the National Income Dynamics Study – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (Nids-Cram) – painted a dire picture of year-on-year drop-outs. It concluded that more than 500 000 learners had dropped out of school by May 2021. The figure was extrapolated from responses by 5 862 people contacted by the researchers between April 6 and May 11, 2021. The DBE-commissioned new study confidently places the number of drop-outs at 19 000. Martin Gustafsson, a senior academic at Stellenbosch University, analysed data captured for the South African School Administration and Management System (SA-Sams), for…

Loyiso Sidimba, Kailene Pillay and Noni Mokati THE Electoral Commission (IEC)has emphasised that election results released so far were accurate. “Numbers are beyond doubt. They have been audited and checked. We can only account for voters that have presented themselves. “I accept there have been allegations that the people who were not on the voters roll, those that we knew, we actually had them included in here (results)," commissioner Mothoso Moepya said at an update media briefing last night. He responded to questions about voters whose names had not appeared on the voters roll. This after the commission said it had received reports on election day that some people could not find their names on the roll. While voters last night were still waiting for the overall results of this…

William Leith | Claremont The final few weeks of this very testing school year will bring much joy to some, while others will be steeped in gloom. The community of Heathfield will view the ongoing persecution of principal Wesley Neuman, and his dismissal, with utter dismay and rage. The misfortune that the Heathfield High School community experiences is a direct result of two opposing views of how we do education. The Department of Basic Education has a mandate from the central government. This mandate ultimately derives from: “We, the people" to develop our most precious resource – our children. Children should be the centre-piece of everything that happens at school. The Covid-19 pandemic, together with ever-increasing levels of poverty, unemployment, gender-based violence and inequality, has devastated the learning…

Now that the dust has settled from the local government elections and the posters are being removed from street poles, we need to get the job done. It is common knowledge that government does not create jobs, it can only put into place the environment enabling businesses to create jobs. It is also common knowledge that the big business centres are to a large degree having jobless growth as they are mechanising, computerising and streamlining their businesses. It is a small business that is going to be the saviour of job creation in South Africa. Unfortunately, our government has not done much at all in trying to enhance the small business environment. There have been many promises, many think tanks and many summits. All of these endeavours have not translated…

China’s has urged its citizens to stock up on daily necessities and for authorities to take steps to ensure adequate food supplies as the country adopts increasingly tight measures to contain its latest Covid-19 outbreak. The Commerce Ministry notice also told authorities to take measures to facilitate agricultural production, keep supply chains smooth, ensure that regional food reserves were adequate and maintain stable prices. China has also been hit hard by flooding that impacted agricultural output. | AFP…