Innholdsfortegnelse for 2021-12-08 i Cape Argus

Given Majola given.majola@inl.co.za SOME 17.5 percent of all global e-commerce transactions and 7.8 percent of South African transactions made between November 25 and 29 were potentially fraudulent, according to TransUnion’s findings released yesterday. TransUnion examined global e-commerce fraud trends that occurred during the busiest period of this year’s holiday shopping season. Globally, this was 3.7 percent higher than the same five-day period leading up to cyber-Monday last year. For transactions originating from South Africa, the percentage increased by 4.2 percent when comparing those same periods. The global information and insights company said these findings were based on intelligence from billions of transactions contained in TransUnion’s fraud analytics solution suite, TruValidate. The analysis also found the top two reasons potentially fraudulent e-commerce transactions globally identified during this…

David Attwell | The Conversation This year, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka published his first novel in 48 years, Chronicles From the Land of the Happiest People on Earth. His previous novels were The Interpreters (1965) and Season of Anomy (1973). Fiction is not Soyinka’s most favoured medium. He is a dramatist first, as well as being a poet, essayist and memoirist in a career whose creative energies have never waned. But the fact that it has taken him half a century to return to the novel, specifically, creates an irresistible opportunity: in the context of a single (and a singular) oeuvre, to compare two literary and historical moments. Of course, this is what critics do: we look for opportunities, the coins scattered from the purses of the people with…

Sisonke Mlamla sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za THE TULBAGH community is upset over the “short notice” given that the primary school at Tulbagh High School would be moved to Waveren School in January, stating that incomplete construction would affect learners. The community had two combined schools, Waveren and Tulbagh, and both had primary and high school learners. Waveren’s high school learners would now be moved to Tulbagh, and Tulbagh’s primary school learners to Waveren. There will now be a dedicated high school and a dedicated primary school. Maddenia Davis, a co-ordinator for the Concerned Parent Body of Waveren School, said that for a few years the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) had spoken about its intention to merge the two schools. “The message was that after construction was done at Tulbagh High School…

Muhammad Khalid Sayed When we observe the 25th Anniversary of the Constitution of our Republic, we must be able to acknowledge that one of the most potent means through which we can live this Constitution, advance this Constitution and make this Constitution a reality in our country and province, is through quality education from kindergarten to post-matric. This Constitution, which we are celebrating here today, endows us with the imperative of education as a basic human right and not a privilege. Education is a constitutionally-enshrined right and must be provided to all -- without any forms of discrimination. Section 29 of the Constitution stipulates that [and I quote] Everyone has the right -- to a basic education, including adult basic education and to further education, which the state, through…

Sisonke Mlamla sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za THE 2021 matric examination markers have been urged to get vaccinated before reporting for duty, as marking gets under way today. National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA (Naptosa) executive director Basil Manuel said they had asked the department to make sure that markers, and everyone who will be at the marking centres, are fully vaccinated. This after the Department of Basic Education (DBE) announced that the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams had come to an end without major incidents that could compromise the examination as a whole. The five-week long exams, which began on October 27, were written in 6 326 public centres, 526 independent centres and 326 designated centres. More than 897 700 candidates registered to sit for the November 2021 NSC examinations, comprising 735 677…

Staff reporter NEW research suggests that over 80% of Africa’s savannah conservation land is failing or deteriorating with just 10% in a state of success or recovery. The study, published in Conservation Letters, assessed the performance of 516 protected areas and community conservation areas across savannah Africa. “These categorisations give us actionable and targeted information to act for conservation,” said Ashley Robson, the study’s lead author from UCT. Many African nations have invested significant resources and land into their protected area networks, often exceeding global averages. However, budget shortfalls and growing threats jeopardise conservation outcomes. According to Robson, given the current focus on conservation, this research can help effectively allocate conservation effort and donor pledges. Conservation movements like 30x30 that call for greatly expanded area-based conservation targets assume existing…

Ntombi Nkosi ntombi.nkosi@inl.co.za Tributes continue to pour in for former ambassador and Order of Ikhamanga recipient Lindiwe Mabuza following her long battle with cancer. Mabuza died on Monday at her home, surrounded by her family. Former president Thabo Mbeki described the stalwart as a strong supporter of the Thabo Mbeki Foundation. “Mabuza was a self-effacing, guileless, and humane person, who served our country and its people with distinction for well over half a century in various capacities during both the Struggle for our liberation and in the democratic dispensation,” Mbeki said. Mabuza was born in Newcastle, KZN in 1938 and studied at Roma University in Lesotho. After graduating, she taught English and Zulu literature. In January 1977 she started working for the ANC on a full-time basis. At the movement's…

The first Ashes Test between England and Australia started early this morning at Brisbane's Gabba. Here, we identify the five players who could be match-winners in the five-match Test series. STEVE SMITH Australia The world's No 3-ranked Test batsman - behind England skipper Joe Root and New Zealand's Kane Williamson - was heroic during the last Ashes series in England in 2019, a campaign often referred to as the "Steve Smith series". He plundered 774 runs at an average of 110.57, including three centuries and a highest score of 211 to help his team draw the series 2-2 and retain the urn, reinforcing the fidgety right-hander as one of the world's pre-eminent stars. Smith, who has scored 27 centuries in 77 Tests at an average of 61.80, is expected to…

HERMAN GIBBS Comment Just two days after Premier Soccer League (PSL) prosecutor Nande Becker jumped ship, he was followed through the exit door of the organisation’s Parktown premises by its head of legal Michael Murphy. No sooner had the resignation of the two legal eagles been confirmed when news broke that Yusuf Seth, the finance manager and accountant of the National Soccer League, the PSL’s trading name, had also quit. Yesterday, unconfirmed media reports said there were more resignations to come. In the absence of any explanation from the PSL, the spate of resignations of high-profile personnel prompts pause to ponder. There must be something rotten in the state of the PSL to have triggered these sudden departures. Murphy has been a pillar of strength in the PSL for many…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za A LOCAL entrepreneur has initiated a virtual e-hailing platform for bakkies and trucks to enable users to hail commercial vehicles electronically. According to Mcebo Vilakati, so far, 125 vehicles in the Midrand, Johannesburg, Centurion and Pretoria areas are available on Palanto, which allows customers to book a trip by choosing pick-up and drop-off locations. “Users who require last-minute deliveries are now able to connect to bakkie and truck owners without surfing through hundreds of classified advertisements. “Among others, this platform seeks to benefit traders who stock up their inventory at the Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market that opens its doors at 4am daily,” he said. Palanto offers an efficient way to move any load from 0.8 ton to 8 ton trucks. The platform also enables people…

SOUTH Africa’s land reform programme has been adversely affected by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic coupled with the challenging economic environment, which has resulted in budgetary cuts and reallo- cation of resources to other priority areas, says the Vumelana Advisory Fund, a non-profit organisation that supports land reform. Vumelana chief executive Peter Setou said that lack of funding re- mained one of the biggest challenges affecting beneficiaries of land reform. However, the beneficiary communities, whose land had been restituted as part of the land reform programme, could now access funding from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to develop their land productively and scale up their farms into successful commercial enterprises. This development follows the launch of the Agri-Industrial Fund by the state-owned funder and the Department of Agriculture,…

Mayibongwe Maqhina mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) says it is still investigating further allegations made over the contract awarded to Digital Vibes after the unit completed its investigation in June. “That investigation is still under way. Whenever the investigation is finalised, we will appropriately report,” SIU head Andy Mothibi said when briefing the standing committee on public accounts on the SIU’s investigations into PPEs for Covid-19. Former minister of health Zweli Mkhize stepped down after being implicated in the irregular awarding of the contract to Digital Vibes that was linked to people who worked with him in the department, the ANC and Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Department. The SIU found that the multimillion-rand communication contract for Covid-19 and the National Health Insurance (NHI) was irregularly awarded. A report…

Shakirah Thebus shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za WITH global efforts directed at getting as many eligible people vaccinated against Covid-19 in the face of emerging variants, the province has reached a milestone by vaccinating over 50% of its eligible adult population. Around 51.36% or 2 556 131 of adults in the Western Cape have been vaccinated with at least one dose of vaccine. The provincial Health Department said this was still not near its 70% + target. The department started seeing a slow increase in people presenting for vaccinations, due to innovations such as pop-up sites, outreaches and its newly launched Vaxi Taxi. Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo yesterday launched the mobile vaccination service, the Vaxi Taxi, at the Bella Moravian Church in Atlantis. Old Mutual partnered with the province and Accelerate…

It IS common, if regrettable, knowledge by now that David Biggs will no longer write his excellent column for our entertainment and edification in the pages of the Cape Argus. Not many have successful careers that last that long, let alone maintain an impeccable standard of unbiased, unadulterated commentary on the day-to- day mundanities and miracles that constitute this enigmatic experience called life. I never understood the odd utterance at the death of a monarch: “The King is dead; long live the King.” With David’s departure, and happily, not his demise, I am beginning to understand the notion. It means that some things come to an end, a closing, but it doesn’t mean irretrievable loss. Marcus Antony (Julius Caesar) said famously, “The evil that men do lives after them; the…

Farouk Araie | Benoni FORMER Cabinet minister Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim has passed away aged 84. He fought his illness with fortitude and dignity. We as a nation must remember him for his dedication to free South Africa of oppression and express our admiration and the deepest respect certainly for his courage and steadfastness to dedicate his life for the cause of righteousness, justice and equity. His ideals of equality and justice serve as our guiding principles as enshrined in the nation’s Constitution. History will remember him as a man with an unerring sense of integrity and honour. Ebrahim was a true cadre who implored us to defend our rights against all hazards and reminded us that it was our sacred duty to liberate the masses from tyranny. His…

The very foundations of our society, the bedrock of our constitutional democracy, are being tested. A quarter of a century into our democratic journey, we are wrestling with persistent social ills, political fracture and economic stagnation, while fighting endemic corruption. These phenomena place our collective future at risk. Times such as these represent moments of great peril, but also of promise. For in times such as these, when leaders are feeble, when institutions falter, when progress is forestalled, hope and courage must arise anew. It is when the creative potential of our national systems seem most weakened that we must regain our strength and revisit our founding vision: l Our vision of a new and better South Africa. l A South Africa founded on the rule of law and on…

HERMAN GIBBS The controversial matter of racial targets reared its ugly head on day two of the National Netball Championships at DF Malan High School in Bellville yesterday. The Buffalo City team, which is still in mourning after four members of their contingent died in a bus accident at the weekend, fielded a team that did comply with Netball South Africa’s targets. Buffalo City from the Eastern Cape defeated KwaZulu-Natal rivals eThekwini 43-38 in their A section clash. Officials discussed the matter of Buffalo City not conforming to the target, which requires two white players in a team of seven, and were penalised by five points. Soon afterwards, the tournament committee changed its decision and declared the initial score to be the official final score. Buffalo City coach Zandile…

Formula One managing director Ross Brawn has defended race director Michael Masi after criticism of the Australian’s handling of Sunday’s chaotic Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Masi has taken flak from both sides as Mercedes’ seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen fight for the title, with the pair tied on points ahead of Sunday’s final winner-takes-all showdown in Abu Dhabi. “I’d like to compliment the FIA and ... Masi in handling well what was an extremely difficult race,” Brawn wrote in a column for the F1 website yesterday. “I know some people feel some of the decisions were controversial but I don’t ... I think Michael dealt with it pragmatically.” In Jeddah, a twice-halted race won by Hamilton, Masi offered Red Bull the opportunity to drop Verstappen…

AS THE SECOND year of the Covid-19 pandemic draws to a close, I have been taking stock of the past 12 months, which have by many accounts been some of the toughest our country has faced in many years. I’m not the first person, and I won’t be the last to consider how Covid has shaped and changed us. However, I do look at the world, and business in particular, through the very specific lens of culture, and that is how I’ve been analysing the past year and asking: Where to from here? The fierce grip of uncertainty Right now, almost everyone I meet or work with is in some form of survival mode, trying to deal with the uncertainty of a pandemic that has dragged on longer than anyone…

THE PRINCES AND THE PRESS M-NET, DSTV CHANNEL 101, 7.30PM Using over 80 hours of interview footage gathered from journalists assigned to cover royal affairs, the BBC’s media editor Amol Rajan spotlights contrasting approaches in the media’s approaches to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex UFOS: SECRET ALIEN TECHNOLOGY HISTORY, DSTV CHANNEL 186, 9.05PM In the 70 years since the famed Roswell UFO crash, there is a long history of allegations involving alien phenomena and supposed government cover-ups. This special takes a hard look at the most famous – and the lesser known – UFO reports that some believe have been deliberately hidden from the public. THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT ME, DSTV CHANNEL 115, 10.50PM A thrilling season premiere. When a flight attendant meets…

Gerry Cupido geraldine.cupido@inl.co.za “I’M too busy to …” Is something we say or hear every day. Time is something we often have too little of, especially when we have too much to do. To cram more activities into those few precious hours, we have become great multitaskers. While “they” say women are more successful at it than men, I choose to believe that anyone who really wants to, can do it. Podcasts have become a great form of entertainment or escapism and one can even find them educational and a great way to “do two things at once”. From soothing background sounds to a host of shows, there’s a podcast for everyone – even for avid beauty lovers, whether you’re into make-up or simply curious about the latest in beauty…

Nomalanga Tshuma nomalanga.tshuma@inl.co.za As the country moves closer to the peak of the festive season, Eskom has called on local communities to take a stand against the installation of illegal connections in their areas. Speaking on the negative impact of the damage caused by illegal connections, Eskom Western Cape spokesperson Kyle Cookson said illegal connections not only result in electricity outages and economic challenges but also endanger lives. “Illegal connections, cable theft and vandalism in parts of greater Cape Town have not only left communities without electricity for prolonged periods but has often caused the public to take to the streets in protest to voice their frustration. “However, despite Eskom’s commitment to secure its network to ensure continuity of electricity supply to all of its customers, illegal connections, which…

Mthuthuzeli Ntseku mthuthuzeli.ntseku@inl.co.za LANGA residents have started a petition to stop a “forced removal” of a prominent fast food outlet (New Hope Spaza) on the corner of Ndabeni Street and Bhunga Avenue, by the City. The owner was given until November 17 to relocate the containers to another portion of the same erf after trading at the location for more than 27 years. Owner Vuyiswa Taule said this was triggered by her application for the installation of water following renovations to the business after a devastating fire. Taule said the section the City wanted her to relocate her “containers” to had deteriorated over the years and became a dumping site, and was close to an initiation site. “This erf was zoned while I was already trading here. In 1997 when…

Rafieka Williams rafieka.williams@inl.co.za EXPERTS insist the cannabis industry could have massive potential to grow the economy by creating 25 000 jobs. Currently, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development estimates that the industry is worth R28 billion. The department has set out a master plan on cannabis, however, red tape and the stigma around cannabis could cause the industry to lag behind. Legal expert Shaad Vayej said the economic growth potential for the industry could cut across sectors. “Conservative estimates indicate that 25 000 jobs could be created across the various value chains. The cannabis master plan aims to provide a broad framework for the development and growth of the South African cannabis industry,” said Vayej. The pitfalls to this master plan, he said, was in the red…

IT’S that time of the year when some businesses start considering closing down for the end-of-the-year holiday. Many employers might be considering parties and gatherings for their staff. Before we discuss the gatherings and parties, please spare a thought for all those who don’t have jobs and are struggling. The latest quarterly survey has shown that almost 50% of those who want jobs in South Africa cannot find jobs. It is getting worse every quarter and has been for the past 10 years. It has come to the point where civil society is going to have to put as much pressure on the government as possible to create a more conducive environment for job creation. We also need to have tolerance and respect for those who are working throughout the…

Thobani Dlamini thobani.dlamini@inl.co.za CEO Mesela Nhlapo of the African Rail Industry Association (Aria), formerly known as the Rail Road Association, has called for an integrated and diversified industry. Nhlapo said the railway industry had to adapt and de-monopolise its economy, which included bringing women leaders into the conversation and re-imagining it beyond government control. “The government has been found wanting in issues of procurement, where business deals that needed to be secured immediately were delayed, which kills the market. This has revealed the over-reliance on business from government. Hence, we need that access which will then transform the industry to have a diverse client base as compared to having only two clients, namely, Transnet and Prasa. “Moreover, we can do more with women engineers and industry leaders who are practically…

Shakirah Thebus shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za MAYOR Geordin Hill-Lewis, with his mayoral committee, met at the Cravenby Civic Centre yesterday to bring the City closer to the people. The virement (the process of transferring items from one financial account to another) of funds on the 2021/2022 capital budget was requested for approval and related to delays in the Baden Powell project caused by the non-responsiveness of the National Department of Water Affairs, Hill-Lewis said. The City’s R162 million Baden Powell Drive Bulk Water Pipeline Project is aimed at strengthening supply to Khayelitsha residents, with the new infrastructure expected to be commissioned around March next year. Mayco member for Water and Waste, Zahid Badroodien, said: “Another virement, moving funds from a different project to another as a result of the issues that you’ve identified…

AFTER months of speculation that Novak Djokovic may miss the Australian Open over tough Covid-19 vaccination requirements, the world No 1 was yesterday named to play in a Sydney tournament weeks before. The 20-time grand slam champion had cast doubt on whether he would defend his title at Melbourne Park next month, refusing to reveal whether he was inoculated against Covid-19. However, he was listed as part of the five-man Serbia team when the draw was made for the ATP Cup in Sydney that will precede the opening major of the year. Rafael Nadal was missing, with the Spanish fellow 20-time grand slam winner last month suggesting he would play an exhibition in Abu Dhabi this month, then another tournament before arriving in Melbourne for the Australian Open. The only…