Innholdsfortegnelse for 2022-08-24 i Cape Argus

South African small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners have confidence that the local economy will be conducive to business growth in the next 12 months according to this year’s first quarter(Q1 2022) SME Index. This as SMEs’ confidence was at its highest level in a decade. The index conducted by Business Partners, a specialist SME financier, measures business confidence as it relates to labour laws, access to finance, state-level interventions and broader socio-economic realities. The latest index was indicative of an overwhelmingly positive sentiment in the first quarter of this year, it said. The only factor to dampen this optimism was the challenge that SME owners were facing around finding staff with the right skill set – a reality that could be attributed to affordability and the global skills shortage.…

Another police officer was called to the stand to refute allegations of police brutality brought by Nkosinathi Khumalo, one of the accused in the murder of advocate Pete Mihalik. The State has alleged that Sizwe Biyela, Nkosinathi Khumalo and Vuyile Maliti orchestrated a hit on the lawyer who was shot while seated inside his car at the corner of Cavalcade and Thornhill Roads in Green Point during a routine school drop. So far the State has handed in a number of exhibits as evidence, including a video the State has relied on in identifying Biyela as the shooter. The video shows a man waiting on the corner before Mihalik arrives, approaching the right side of his vehicle, pointing an object at the window and then walking away speedily while putting…

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has developed a new mobile service delivery app, called LINK, to help residents in Cape Town report issues directly to the City with the click of a button. This app came after months of development with municipalities and the City to offer residents an alternative method of getting through to the City’s operations centre to report incidents relating to potholes, traffic light outages, water leaks, sewage overflows, illegal dumping and a number of other incidents. City spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibongo said: “As part of the City’s open data strategy, the City has made its service request Application Programming Interface (API) available to responsible external organisations that may want to use it. This strategy allows external organisations to build their own apps and link these to…

Industry leaders gathered in Cape Town yesterday to participate in the Western Cape Government’s (WCG) Cabinet Meets Business engagement where they discussed the unfolding energy crisis and the efforts being made to make the province energy resilient during ongoing load shedding. Premier Alan Winde emphasised the WCG and the City stood with Eskom in solving the energy crisis and believed that under Eskom chief executive André de Ruyter and his team, the power utility was doing everything it could to resolve the country’s energy challenges. In facilitating this engagement, Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC Mireille Wenger said they hoped to harness the power of partnerships by bringing together local and provincial government, the private sector and Eskom to share their plans to address this issue. This was needed as WCG…

Does “Bouncebackability” exist within the broader framework of “Bazball”? That will be the dominant theme as England’s new approach, exposed for the first time by the Proteas last week, faces a new examination in Manchester. South Africa are expecting England to hit back hard, as any team would after an embarrassing defeat of the kind Ben Stokes’ team suffered in the first Test. “Coming into this series, they played some really good cricket and fought themselves out of situations where they were not favoured to win Test matches,” Keshav Maharaj said. “We know what they are capable of, and that they have some really world-class players in their team.” Maharaj offered the now cliched explanation about the Proteas: they would concentrate on themselves, their own processes and look to repeat…

Orlando Pirates’ victory hopes will rest heavily on their ability to break down Marumo Gallants’ compact defence in their Premiership clash at Orlando Stadium today (7.30pm kick-off). Pirates were held to a goalless draw by SuperSport United on Sunday, but there were signs that Spanish coach Jose Riveiro is starting to establish who his starting XI should be, and the team have started to gel. Gallants were held to a 2-2 draw by Royal AM, who were headed for defeat, but Brazilian Ricardo Nascimento came to their rescue with an injury-time equaliser. The outcome meant that Gallants retained their unbeaten four-match streak, with four draws in as many matches since the start of the season. Gallants’ French mentor Romain Folz said his team came within a whisker of their first…

It is well worth investing the time to understand how a credit score works amid the high cost of living, according to Neil Roets, the CEO of Debt Rescue. This as South Africans are staggering under the weight of rocketing petrol, electricity and food prices, with many incurring more debt to cope with the additional cost of living. Household finances came under increased pressure in the second quarter of this year as individuals reported that their savings, incomes and ability to service debt deteriorated in the consumer vulnerability index published end of July by Unisa/Momentum. Annabel Bishop, chief economist at Investec, said in a note that Statistics SA showed the cost of living rose substantially, to 7.4 percent year on year (y/y) by June, from an increase of 5.9…

Two soccer teams are at loggerheads over a City decision to cancel the lease of the one – currently using the sports field at Upper Cambridge, Walmer Estate – and hand the training pitch over to a rival team. Amateur football team Young Men’s Own (YMO) St Luke’s Football Club currently holds the lease of the grounds, but received notice that an adjacent field that YMO is using as a training facility would be let out to District Six FC. This after YMO asked the City to include this field in their lease. YMO, which is 105 years old, said they would soon bring an urgent high court application to stop the City from granting the lease for the portion of the erf. YMO’s 10-year lease expires in 2028. Meanwhile,…

Former Public Protector SA executive manager Lufuno Ndou has denied that he had been insubordinate by refusing to return to the office after receiving a text message from suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane while he was on leave. Ndou, the Section 194 parliamentary inquiry’s 11th witness, returned to the stand yesterday after being forced off the virtual platform by technical and weather challenges during his testimony last Thursday. Appearing in person before the inquiry into Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office, Ndou told ANC MP Jane Mananiso that when he did eventually return to the office after his leave, he expected recrimination, but did not feel intimidated. Ndou worked at the PPSA for 19 years in various capacities, starting as a senior investigator and filling the role of acting chief executive…

I thought it was important to make known to the public and whoever would be interested in this information the various specialisation areas available to nurses, because when we were offered contracts to work in Saudi Arabia, we encountered problems, as some expatriates from other countries were convinced our CVs were fraudulent because they believed no nurse could have so many qualifications as most of the South African nurses. Some head nurses went to great lengths to prove South Africans had fake CVs. Some were given adverse evaluations during the three-month probation period and their contracts terminated, resulting in them being sent back home – very traumatic. This cruelty against South Africans perpetrated by other expatriates while the hospital managers were not really aware of what was going on was…

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said a change in attitude and spirit from his players was the reason behind a huge 2-1 win over Liverpool on Monday to lift the gloom around Old Trafford. The Dutch coach became the first United manager to lose his opening two games in charge for more than a century as defeats to Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford left the Red Devils bottom of the Premier League for the first time in 30 years. On a big night for Ten Hag, his decision to drop Cristiano Ronaldo and club captain Harry Maguire paid dividends as United’s high tempo blitzed Liverpool for the opening 30 minutes. Jadon Sancho gave the home side a deserved halftime lead, before Marcus Rashford’s first goal since January put…

Football doesn’t allow for any lengthy bouts of festivity, and equally no time to sulk about disappointments suffered in a previous game. Wipe out your eyes and it’s time to prepare for the next 90 minutes. And Mamelodi Sundowns know this better than most teams, considering their congested fixture list every season. Often it is about managing the celebrations for Masandawana, though, rather than having to pick themselves up. However, that is the situation that the champions find themselves in ahead of hosting Stellenbosch FC at Loftus Versfeld today (5pm kick-off). It’s been a rather strange start to the season for Sundowns. Emphatic victories over championship rivals Cape Town City (2-0) and Kaizer Chiefs (4-0) have been achieved, but it’s been interspersed with a shock 1-0 defeat to TS Galaxy…

The World Rugby Sevens Series reaches a climax in Los Angeles this weekend, and the Blitzboks have pronounced themselves “ready” to see off the challenges of close rivals Australia and Argentina to clinch the overall title. The South Africans have just travelled halfway around the world to get to the west coast of the US, and star player Sako Makata says they are weary, but determined. “We will be ready,” Makata said. “It took us over 20 hours of travelling to get here, we have hardly eaten and not showered, so we are exhausted, but we are ready to go. “We did a ‘stay awake’ session at the beach after arrival, and the beauty of the place and the friendliness of the people perked us up already. “The fact that…

The rate of unemployment in South Africa surprised on the downside in the three months to June, as the number of jobs created during the period surpassed those lost. This will be a welcome relief as the poor economic activity due to the floods in KwaZulu-Natal and the crippling rotational power cuts in the second quarter of 2022 were expected to translate to significant job losses. Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) yesterday said South Africa’s unemployment rate decreased by 0.6 of a percentage point to 33.9 percent in the second quarter, down from 34.5 percent in the first quarter. This means unemployment eased further from a record high of 35.3 percent recorded in the last quarter of 2021. Stats SA said the number of unemployed persons increased by 132 000…

Security in place for one-day union strike SECURITY arrangements have been made and Capetonians have been assured that nobody will be prevented from going to work today despite a national shutdown called by the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu). Cape Town will be the scene of two separate actions. The first will be a march by Saftu at 10am, starting from Hanover Street in the CBD, and proceeding to the Civic Centre, Provincial Legislature and Parliament, with an expected 1 000 participants. The federations said the aim of the national shutdown was to avoid an impending economic collapse that had come as a result of rising fuel and food prices, which was impacting millions of working class people…

Long-distancE bus company Intercape has reiterated its claims that the taxi industry is behind the spate of attacks on its buses and staff between the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng. Intercape CEO Johan Ferreira doubled down on the claims while briefing the portfolio committee on tourism yesterday, saying that both Intercape and the tourism industry had suffered major losses since the attacks began several years ago. Ferreira said he was requesting the portfolio committee to take the matter to the National Assembly, as the impact of the ongoing attacks should be considered and dealt with urgently because they were of national importance. “I am deeply concerned that no action or a lack of action on behalf of the government has led to the deterioration of the public transport sector,…

JOB cuts are expected at state-owned arms company (SOC) Denel where two of the main unions have confirmed the company intends to embark on a retrenchment process. Denel, which employs 3 137 workers, has not responded to queries from the Cape Argus since last Thursday. However, the unions said as there had been no formal communication to workers on the specifics, they were not in a position to comment further. In response to questions from the Cape Argus, Solidarity Union sector co-ordinator Derek Mans said: “While it is true that an announcement was made by Denel of its intention to embark on a retrenchment process, the section 189 letter detailing all the questions you ask has not been registered with the affected parties as yet.” As such, Solidarity was unable…

Tributes following the death of state capture whistle-blower and former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor have come from her political colleagues and peers at Action SA, the National Freedom Party (NFP) and Cope. Mentor, 58, whose death was announced yesterday morning, had recently stepped away from the political limelight due to health issues experienced as a result of a weight loss operation. She served as an MP from 2002 to 2014. In a candid interview with the Weekend Argus in June this year, Mentor detailed her health issues and said that she had bariatric surgery to lose weight because of an injury in her leg, but as a result of the hard lockdown she was unable to have follow-up medical inspections on the initial procedure. She said: “Afterwards, I found that…

A principal who was shot in the face at a Philippi early childhood development (ECD) centre in Cape Town is still in a critical condition. The teacher was shot at close range and the bullet went through her eye, in full view of children aged 5 and younger when armed men stormed the Rise and Shine ECD centre. The South African Education Project (SAEP) is calling for urgent intervention from safety structures to ensure staff and children centres are safe. According to SAEP, two men entered the ECD centre, just as one of the women living at the facility entered the gate. They came in under the pretence of looking for an ECD facility for a six-month-old baby. The staff enquired after the whereabouts of the child and…

An UNEMPLOYED individual cannot offer his or her services to any business at a salary below the minimum wage. In other words, the ANC government would rather have people sitting at home earning nothing and gaining no skills. Many people of my generation will tell you stories of how they got their first job. I, and many of my friends, were able to get our foot into the economy by offering to work for almost nothing. People of my age were able to gain skills at the workplace with the employer knowing full well that they could ask us to leave without going through a horrendous retrenchment programme or disciplinary process. It was easy then for a future employer to take the risk. As the regulatory labour environment became harsher,…

A while ago, the laws of South Africa did not allow black people to be judges, and black people were not allowed by churches to be the clergy, but things changed. Mahatma Gandhi wanted to be a Christian but was prevented by white people and the laws of the land from entering a church. This convinced him to remain a Hindu. The law did not allow a black man to court and marry a white woman, but things changed. I’m not sure how these laws applied between blacks and Indians, for example. Not so long ago, homosexuality was unheard of in our land, but it has now become common and acceptable because it is legal. Not so long ago, the only religion tolerated was Christianity, but now, everyone is free…

Not many can work out why Warrick Gelant did not fill in for Kurt-Lee Arendse against the All Blacks at Ellis Park in the first place, but now that he is in the team, he says he has a licence to thrill against the Wallabies. The hot-stepping Gelant will be on the right wing for Saturday’s Rugby Championship match against the Wallabies in Adelaide, coming into the side after Jesse Kriel suffered a concussion early in the defeat to the New Zealanders, and he said from the South Australian city yesterday that he has the freedom to play his natural game. The 27-year-old Gelant earned the nickname ‘Boogie’ from his teammates at Tuks in the 2014 Varsity Cup, and the name has settled well with him, especially this season in…