Innholdsfortegnelse for 2023-10-17 i Star

THE FOSCHINI Group (TFG) has launched the first collection from its Sustainable Design Incubator programme, aimed at fostering sustain- able fashion practices and supporting young emerging designers. TFG CEO Anthony Thunström said in a statement yesterday: “With TFG’s commitment to job creation and the development of the South African design and manufacturing industry, our Sustainable Design Incubator provides an important platform to grow skills and provide experience for young designers. “TFG aims to empower talented South African designers by offering unrivalled access to the market and networking opportunities, which are vital for building successful and thriving fashion businesses,” he said. Leveraging TFG’s ecosystem, the selected designers’ ranges had launched on Bash, an online app that provides access to TFG stores and brand. TFG said the market access opportunity provided through…

A LEGAL team representing EFF member Luvuyo Ntakana, who was assaulted during a violent protest outside Brackenfell High School in 2020, has served summons on two residents who were arrested for assaulting him. Assault complaints were lodged against Dante van Wyk and Jaco Pretorius after the protest over alleged racism at the school, fuelled by reports that only white learners were invited to a matric farewell party. The incident, captured on video, showed Ntakana in a fist fight, allegedly with Pretorius and Van Wyk, among others, during the protest. Ntakana alleged the group hurled insults, including racial slurs, before threatening to shoot him while he was attending a school governing-body (SGB) meeting over the school’s alleged racism. The two were arrested, and while Van Wyk was acquitted of all charges,…

THATO “TT” Mbha, a well-known real estate mogul and businessman, has shared thrilling details about the second annual Amatyma International Men’s Day, a wellness network that celebrates men. After the resounding success of the first two occasions last year, Mbha said they look forward to hosting men from all walks of life on November 18 at 02 Palm Boulevard, Gateway, uMhlanga Ridge, and November 19 at 3166 Shinkhova Street, Meadowlands West Zone 10, Soweto. He said the network seeks to address the wellness of men in an open manner, focusing on three wellness pillars: physical, mental and financial wellness. Mbha said that men are known to be hard nuts to crack, a species that bottles everything up because society has labelled sensitive men as weak. This men-only event aims to…

Israel, with the active support of the West, especially America, is preparing the groundwork for genocidal behaviour against Palestinians in the latest war between it and Hamas. That Hamas has committed war crimes in this latest conflict is no longer an issue for debate. But does it help for Israeli to respond in an even worse mode by wanting to wipe out the Palestinian population in Gaza? This is an impending catastrophe – a pogrom against Palestinians – because Gaza is already the most densely populated region in the world, with its people squeezed into very little land. Now Israel wants to compound the situation by further tightly squeezing them – by forcing half to move to the south of the strip. Indeed, how…

I hope all political parties realise that the survival of South Africa depends on the choices they make in the national elections next year. They will determine whether we will have a country after the elections or join other Africans on our continent who, after gaining independence, became stateless immigrants, scattered all over the world, searching for whatever means of survival, simply because of their unshaken, stubborn adherence to their policies and ideologies. One political analyst believes a coalition government between the ANC and the DA could work because of their long experience in the government. He raises an important point but adds the DA and the ANC are like oil and water and will never mix because of their divergent policies. This is where the solution lies. Compromise must…

IT is not everyday that one delves into the thorny subject of claims relating to land stolen by colonisers from the original owners. However, retired journalist Nthele Motsepe digs deep into this painful and emotive subject in his debut book, Mapungubwe Relics. The book narrates the buried stories of pre-colonial African civilisation. “Armed with nothing but vivid imagination and poetic licence, the book uses fictional characters to trap readers into a time capsule,” Motsepe told the Pretoria News. In this 12th to 14th century setting, aboriginal people are mining gold, pre-cast it into an assortment of tools for trade with merchants from India, China, and Europe. The book also explores how they were living in harmony with nature, and their strict adherence to African faith. They believed they possessed powers…

THEY can appear in many different forms, but hangovers are physically caused by consuming more alcohol than your liver can metabolise. In addition, the SA National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (Sanca), founded in 1956, states that you run the chance of experiencing a hangover any time you consume alcohol to the point of drunkenness. Healthline’s research shows that rate fluctuates based on several factors, but is commonly believed to be around one standard drink – 350ml of beer, 150ml of wine, or one shot of 80-proof liquor, every hour. There are no scientifically proven treatments for hangovers, but there are strategies to mitigate the damage. After a night of excessive drinking, the pain can include headache, thirst, nausea, vomiting, exhaustion, and agitation. According to WebMD, drinking alcohol results…

A MOTHER’S attempt to claim damages from the Eastern Cape Health Department after her child suffered brain damage has failed in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA). The court found the mother could not prove medical negligence by hospital staff during the birth of her baby at Frere Hospital. On October 18, 2010, the mother gave birth to her son by emergency caesarean section. He was monitored in the nursery ward after being born with mild respiratory distress, and a day later was placed in the care of his mother in the maternity ward, where it was discovered he had jaundice. A paediatrician provided supportive treatment and administered intravenous haemoglobin and intensive phototherapy, but the boy’s condition did not change and a blood transfusion was needed, the SCA judgment detailed.…

Aid agencies yesterday called for vital humanitarian supplies to be allowed into the Gaza Strip, warning time was running out to save millions of people as water supplies dried up and food and fuel stocks dwindled. Israel has been bombing Gaza as part of its war on Hamas, whose fighters broke through its heavily fortified border on October 7 and killed more than 1 400 people, most of them civilians. Its response to the worst attack in the country’s 75-year history has been to flatten areas in a relentless series of air strikes, killing at least 2 750, most of them ordinary Palestinians. It has requested some 1.1 million Gazans – nearly half the population of 2.4 million – to leave the north of the densely populated enclave, in anticipation…

DIMITROVGRAD: Greenpeace activists scaled the cooling tower of a coal-fired power plant in Bulgaria yesterday in protest over its pollution, demanding its closure. The seven activists from Austria, Croatia, Romania, Greece and Bulgaria climbed the tower of the Maritsa 3 plant in southern Bulgaria at dawn and painted “Crime” in large white letters on the tower. Since 2021, the plant has been shut down several times by Bulgarian authorities for exceeding allowed emissions. EU member Bulgaria pledged to phase out coal by 2038, but activists say the date is too far off. | AFP…

Prior to the start of this ICC Cricket World Cup there was a picture of Temba Bavuma supposedly taking a nap during the Captain’s Call that went viral. Bavuma claimed he was not actually sleeping and that the camera angle was simply doing him an injustice. But if the Proteas skipper had accidentally nodded off during the pre-match media engagement yesterday in Dharamsala, he would be completely forgiven due to him and the rest of the team cheering on the Springboks in their epic Rugby World Cup quarter-final victory over hosts France until 2.30am India time. “I'm still trying to wake up from the late night. “Incredible game. Inspirational the way the guys went about their business,” Bavuma said. “I think the intensity that the game was played at from…

Cricket celebrated its much-awaited return to the Olympics yesterday and those in charge of running it are hoping it will not be a one-off appearance at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. It took two years of hard-selling a game which boasts 2.5 billion fans worldwide and is considered a religion in the Indian sub-continent, where the response towards the Olympics is lukewarm at best. Fittingly, the announcement came in Mumbai, headquarters of the game’s richest board, and in the middle of the 50-over World Cup in India, the game’s financial engine. “We are thrilled that cricket’s inclusion in the LA28 Olympic Games has been confirmed by the IOC Session today,” ICC chairperson Greg Barclay said in a statement. “To have the opportunity to showcase our great sport at the…

TS Galaxy will enjoy a massive stroke of good fortune in their Carling Knockout clash against Mamelodi Sundowns at Mbombela Stadium tomorrow. The Sundowns-heavy Bafana Bafana will play Ivory Coast in an international friendly today and the players will be returning home tomorrow. This means that seven Sundowns players in the national squad will not be available to play in tomorrow’s clash against TS Galaxy. The seven players away in Ivory Coast are captain Themba Zwane, first-choice goalkeeper Ronwen Williams and defenders Khuliso Mudau, Mothobi Mvala and Grant Kekana, as well as midfielders Teboho Mokoena and Aubrey Modiba. Make that eight Sundowns players because towering goalkeeper Denis Onyanga will be on duty for Uganda in an international friendly today. The absence of eight players from the Sundowns squad tomorrow will…

Stormers and Springbok lock Salmaan Moerat is expected to be fit and ready to lead the Stormers this weekend in Johannesburg when they take on the Lions in the opening round of the United Rugby Championship. Moerat (25) was recently made permanent captain after URC-winning prop Steven Kitshoff departed Cape Town for Ulster ahead of the new club rugby season. The Bok lock has captained the team before and has his sights set on continuing where Kitshoff left the team, but obviously, the goal of winning more trophies is at the top of the list. Although he was not part of the Stormers’ pre-season matches, he has been training full steam with the team for quite some time now and is ready to set foot on the pitch at…

A FREE State woman, who is now blind in one eye, is pleading for justice after being reportedly forgotten by bus company Interstate following a fight that took place on one of its buses. Boitumelo Molatudi, 24, says she has not seen justice and has received not a cent in damages or reparations after a passenger on the bus had a fight with the bus driver while Molatudi was on board. Speaking about the incident, which took place in 2016, Molatudi says the passenger then threw a stone, shattering the bus window, with glass particles hitting her in the eye and leaving her blind in one eye. Molatudi was taken to a public hospital and spent three days there without assistance or even an apology from Interstate. She lives in…

The inaugural Africa Fest features a star-studded line-up of local music icons with the goal of celebrating musical diversity, by bringing together established superstars to commemorate the global success of the amapiano genre. Kabza De Small, DBN Gogo, Pabi Cooper, Uncle Waffles, Kamo Mphela, Makhadzi, Mas-Musiq, Sam Deep, Samthing Soweto, Nkosazana Daughter, DJ Stokie and Lesego M are among the award-winning amapiano stars set to perform on November 18 at the SunBetArena in Times Square. Speaking about the success of the genre and praising local radio stations for changing their playlists to feature home-grown artists, Ceehle Suntele, a representative for Africa Fest, echoed the heartbeat of amapiano, which currently rules supreme as the most popular hashtag on TikTok, demonstrating its global influence. “This event is the first of its kind…

DEFENDERS of the People, a political party with one councillor in the City of Tshwane, has been ushered into the multiparty coalition government of the DA, Freedom Front Plus, ActionSA and IFP. This comes after the coalition partners had a fall-out with the Congress of the People (Cope), which broke ranks when it fielded former party councillor Dr Murunwa Makwarela to contest for the mayoral position against Cilliers Brink. At the time, Makwarela won by 112 votes against Brink’s 101. Makwarela was subsequently removed from the position after it emerged that he failed to disclose his insolvency status; he was roundly criticised for misleading the public by accepting nominations first as speaker of the council and later as Tshwane mayor. Brink eventually ascended to the mayor’s office after another contest…

IN WHAT is deemed to be a groundbreaking judgment, the court has ordered the Road Accident Fund (RAF) to financially compensate the widow and children of a man who died by suicide after he was earlier involved in a motorbike accident. The Western Cape High Court found that although the man decided to take his own life, the accident left him in so much pain and mental despair that he was driven to suicide. Judge James Lekhuleni found that there was a proven link between the accident and the suicide and that the RAF was thus liable to pay spousal compensation to his family. “The evidence showed that the deceased was suffering excruciating pains arising from the motor vehicle accident. The court has little doubt that the injuries and the…

Members of the Tshwane Metro Police Department arrested a man moments after he allegedly shot and killed the mechanic who was fixing his car. The crime was unravelled when patrolling members of the TMPD were informed of a stationary vehicle on the road, with its hazard lights on. Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba, spokesperson for the TMPD, said when the officers approached the vehicle, they found the bullet-riddled body of the mechanic. “He was shot and killed inside the vehicle with empty cartridges lying around the scene,” Mahamba said. “An eyewitness approached the officers and gave them information regarding the shooting” The TMPD officers spotted the alleged killer’s vehicle at a garage along Soutpan Road, near Soshanguve. “The suspect was arrested and found in possession of a firearm and ammunition,” said…

THE International Women’s Forum South Africa and Standard Bank will be lauding the achievements of outstanding women at the annual Hall of Femme Awards. Scheduled for this Thursday at Standard Bank’s Rosebank head office, the event has as its theme “Pay It Forward”. Open only to International Women’s Forum South Africa members and select invitees, the awards highlight the commitment and drive of women who not only excel in their fields but also open doors for the next generation of leaders. “The ethos of International Women’s Forum South Africa is rooted in the belief that by empowering visionary women and fostering a culture of mentorship, we create a robust framework of unwavering support,” said the organisation in a statement. “This support system emboldens women to challenge conventional…

No census is ever exact: as academics Tom Moultrie and Rob Dorrington at the UCT have noted previously: a census is not, in reality, a full and accurate count of the number of people in a country; rather, it is itself an estimate of the size of the population at a moment in time. South Africa has announced the results of its fourth census as a democracy, Census 2022. I have been involved in the process for the past four years as chair of South Africa’s National Statistics Council. As outgoing chair, my last task was to take part in the release of Census 2022. The census found that the national population has grown to 62 million, up 10.3 million from the last census in 2011. Gauteng is clearly the…

Paris: France’s president on Monday called for a “ruthless” government response to those with “terrorist ideologies”, days after a teacher was stabbed to death in what he has called an act of “Islamist terror”. Emmanuel Macron wants his ministers “to embody a ruthless state towards all those who harbour hate and terrorist ideologies,” a senior aide told reporters. He has called on police to comb through their files of radicalised people who could be deported from France and has told the interior minister to take a “special approach to young men between the ages of 16-25 from the Caucasus”, the aide said. | AFP…

KARACHI: The Pakistani government is looking to tame inflation with fuel price cuts and a price-control mechanism, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar said yesterday. The South Asian country is embarking on a tricky path to economic recovery under a caretaker government after a $3 billion (R56bn) loan programme approved by the International Monetary Fund in July averted a sovereign debt default, but with conditions that complicated efforts to control inflation. Pakistan’s inflation rate rose to 31.4% year-on-year in September from 27.4% in August. | Reuters…

Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis will be watching the Sasol League National Champions closely this week ahead amid her team’s congested schedule. Banyana have had a memorable run in recent months. They won the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations crown and made it to the last-16 of the World Cup. With those feats etching their names in the history books, they’ll surely be the team to beat in the Olympic Games and Wafcon qualifiers in the next few months. Their plans are bound to hit potholes here and there as they failed to exit the Cosafa Championships group stage on home soil after Ellis selected a largely inexperienced team. But they can’t afford to despair. The 14th edition of the Sasol Champs, which will be held in Bloemfontein from today…

HUNDREDS of Africans tasked with scouring platforms such as Facebook, TikTok and ChatGPT for graphic content have joined the continent’s first union for content moderators, but organisers say some fear losing their jobs if their membership is revealed. The union was established in Nairobi in May with the help of former Facebook moderator and whistle-blower Daniel Motaung, who experienced first hand both the mental toll of this gruelling work, and the challenges of holding Big Tech to account. Last year, Motaung, a South African, filed a lawsuit against Facebook’s parent company, Meta, and its local outsourcing firm, Sama, alleging irre- gular pay, union-busting and inadequate mental health support, resulting in trauma. That suit, filed by Motaung on behalf of a group, is still working its way through the Kenyan courts.…

SOUTH Africa’s financial landscape is currently marred by a glaring disparity. On the one side, major banks – think Standard Bank, Absa, FirstRand, and Nedbank – are celebrating record-breaking profits and substantial contributions to the country’s economy. On the other, they appear to be self-sabotaging these efforts by de-banking or un-banking multiple companies and individuals. As we all should know by now, the banks claim a purported “reputational risk” to their own reputations if they continue to bank Sekunjalo and all its related companies – many of whom the business world and the public had no idea were linked to the Group. Consequently, moves are afoot by all the major banks, and then some, to de-bank the entire group. This claim (of reputational risk) can surely not be taken…

Proteas captain Temba Bavuma has stressed that his team will not be underestimating the Netherlands in today’s ICC Cricket World Cup clash in Dharamsala. Bavuma’s team have been in sublime form in their opening two World Cup matches, despatching both former champions Sri Lanka and Australia by crushing margins. But despite the Netherlands being the last team to qualify for this World Cup, and losing both their matches against Pakistan and New Zealand, Bavuma has every reason to be wary of the Dutch. The Orange Army stunned the Proteas in last year’s T20 World Cup in Australia when they recorded a shock victory at the Adelaide Oval to send Bavuma’s team crashing out. “We definitely won’t be taking them lightly,” he said. “We know that their side will prepare with…

Multi-award-winning reggae/dancehall musician Pepsin, born in the Northern Cape town of Kimberley, known as the City of Diamonds, is toasting his recent Sama nomination ahead of the #SAMA29 set for Durban later this month. A real-life diamond, Pepsin, derived from his original nickname “Papi”, said his stage name means “an object that inspires other objects to blossom or become better objects”. “I am an inspiring vigour. The name just automatically changed from Papi to Pepsin. Don’t know how, don’t know when – I guess it’s just a natural reaction like the force of gravity,” Pepsin said of his monicker. His nomination for the Sama is due to his work on the Maximum Stylez Presents: Red Carpet Live, Vol 1 compilation, which was nominated in the category Best Reggae Album. In…

The issue of immigrants is going to place our country into disrepute if not carefully resolved. Immigration has become an important campaigning tool for the opposition parties. One of the parties is encouraging the influx of African immigrants. I don’t think most of their supporters support the pro-immigrants theory of their leadership. The rest of the opposition parties, led by the racist leading opposition parties, are calling for the immediate deportation of all foreigners. It looks like there will be mass deportation of immigrants next year if the opposition alliance wins the 2024 national elections, and I’m afraid it won’t be a peaceful milestone. If foreigners resist deportation and decide to defend themselves against xenophobic violence, there will be chaos. Immigration is a growing problem facing developing and well developed…

Can anyone truthfully say that Hamas, in launching an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel just over a week ago, thought it could beat Israel? The scenes of planned attacks on home after home, the killing, the raping, and in some cases, the beheading of innocent civilians, babies, children, women and men, and the shooting in cold blood in an orgy of killing at a concert, is etched in the memory of Israelis and their friends across the world, sickened by the callousness and inhumanity of Hamas. Hamas could never have thought Israel would simply turn the other cheek, or that there would be no retaliation. Hamas killed more than 1 300 Israelis – civilians, not soldiers – many in the most ghastly, and gruesome and, yes, barbaric manner. They are…

THE cash-strapped City of Tshwane continues to lose millions of rand because of the ongoing strike action by employees over wage increases. The metro’s budget, according to the municipality, is further stretched by the damages to buildings, infrastructure damages and the torching of municipal buildings as a result of the unprotected strike. Other costs the municipality has to incur is paying overtime to metropolitan police officers to escort workers to job sites. Municipal employees have over the past few months been involved in a dispute against management over a 5.4% pay increase which the City has refused to pay, citing bankruptcy. Addressing the media last week, mayor Cilliers Brink along with city manager Johan Mettler, said the violent nature of the strike had cost the municipality. But the duo could…

A PROTECTION order a professional jazz musician earlier obtained against a woman who claimed he had raped and sexually abused her has been overturned on appeal. The Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, said the magistrate, who last year issued the protection order without establishing all the facts, had erred. Two judges on appeal found that the conduct of the woman, only identified as LW, of reporting the rape allegations did not amount to harassment and that her conduct was not unreasonable. The jazz musician, only identified as KCA, said that he was previously in a committed relationship with the appellant. According to him, she complained of gender-based violence, reporting him to a Swiss arts organisation for which he was doing work. She also contacted Wits University and the National Arts…

Nearly one week after he gave police officers the slip during a search at his home, a bogus Facebook medical practitioner has been re-arrested. Tshwane police had launched a manhunt for a man using the names Dr Kingsley Chele or Dr KJ Ncube who allegedly duped women out of hundreds of thousands of rands. According to police, Chele allegedly set up a Facebook page and administered medical advice, pretending to be a doctor or pharmacist. He was arrested after two cases of fraud were registered at Sunnyside and Klipgat in June 2023. Chele appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court, and he was remanded in custody after bail was denied. Police said Chele went with the investigating officer and officials from the National Prosecuting Authority's Asset Forfeiture Unit to assist in…

A RECENT analysis of the Global Burden of Disease 2019 data has revealed that approximately 1.71 billion people worldwide suffer from musculoskeletal conditions. These conditions, ranging from low back pain and fractures to osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, affect people of all ages and are a cause for concern globally. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), musculoskeletal conditions are typically characterised by pain (often persistent), limitations in mobility and dexterity, and reducing people’s ability to work and participate in society. Pain experienced in musculoskeletal structures is the most common form of non-cancer pain. Musculoskeletal conditions encompass a wide array of disorders affecting various parts of the body, including joints, bones, muscles and multiple body systems. Joints, such as those affected by osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, and spondyloarthritis, experience inflammation…

Many are perplexed over why the French would award Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga with the Knight of the French National Legion of Honour, one of their highest honours. Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur was presented to the minister on behalf of French President Emmanuel Macron during a ceremony at the French Embassy in Pretoria – much to the ire of opposition politicians. The civil order of merit is conferred to individuals, regardless of where they were born or their religion, as long as they uphold liberty and equality. The DA and ActionSA penned letters to French ambassador to SA David Martinon, formally requesting that the country strongly reconsider giving Motshekga the award. ActionSA President Herman Mashaba stated that her performance did not merit an award and that in her…

Berlin: German vaccine-maker BioNTech said yesterday that its earnings would take a hit as demand for its coronavirus jab slowed. BioNTech, which developed and marketed the first Covid-19 vaccine together with the US pharma company Pfizer, said in a statement it would likely write off up to 900 million euros ($948 million) in the third quarter. BioNTech said it had been informed by its partner Pfizer that the majority of the losses related to excess raw materials used in vaccine manufacture, The write-offs also related to unused doses of the vaccine. | AFP…

Berlin: Germany yesterday moved to add new checks along its eastern and southern borders as it manages a rise in migrant arrivals. Berlin notified the EU of its plans for stationary checks at crossings with the Czech Republic, Poland and Switzerland to counter people smuggling and irregular migration, the interior ministry said. Germany also notified the EU of extension to its existing border controls with Austria. The new checks with the Czech Republic, Poland and Switzerland would apply for 10 days from yesterday and could be extended up to a maximum of two months, | Reuters…

The Proteas women concluded a successful home series against New Zealand, winning the one-day international matches while finishing the T20 series level at 1-1 with the visitors. It was not too long ago when South Africa were hit with multiple retirements in a short space of time, but the young team is finding their feet again on the world stage. When any team has to bid farewell to experienced players, it usually takes a lengthy period for the younger players to gel as a unit. In some cases, it takes years to rebuild and international cricket is often unforgiving to a team that is in a rebuilding phase. The Proteas have defied the odds and taken a relatively short period of time to find their feet again following the…