Thursday, September 17 2020

THE BIG ISSUES

LEADING THE AGENDA

News

Cyril has a plan to save the economy, but you can’t see it yet

There’s a new blueprint to revitalise a Covid-battered SA, but the details are being kept under wraps for now

Thabo Mokone
Parliamentary editor
2 min read
News

EDITORIAL | Five, four, three, two, one, lift-off for travel! But beware

SA’s borders are open for travel, but without training, diligence and competence, we could be grounded again

Times Select
Editorial
3 min read
News

Excess deaths head up again, but it could be ‘random fluctuation’

Based on 2018 and 2019 data, deaths in the week ending September 8 were 14% higher than forecast

Dave Chambers
Cape Town bureau chief
2 min read
Read more

SMART NEWS

IN ONE TAKE

News

Court showdown looms over baboon in the burbs

City insists rogue male removed from Kommetjie threatened a troop’s wellbeing, but activists say he’s lonely

Bobby Jordan
Senior reporter
5 min read
News

It’s all going swimmingly in SA’s luxury property market

As lockdown eases, homes worth millions are being snapped up by locals and foreigners, say property gurus

Suthentira Govender
Senior reporter
3 min read
News

Cele announces fresh move to smash Cape protection racket

New team unites the city, province and police to tackle extortion racket that has expanded beyond nightclubs

Aron Hyman
Reporter
5 min read
News

‘Sorry, grandma, but you’re not too old to do time for R20m crime’

A 62-year-old woman who defrauded the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality has lost her appeal

Philani Nombembe
Journalist
5 min read
News

New name, same great journalism: we’re now Sunday Times Daily!

Your favourite daily digital edition will now appear under a different name but keep the content you love

Times Select
Editorial
2 min read
Read more

IDEAS

FEEDING YOUR MIND

Ideas

A man, an octopus and lessons for our corona lives

If this brilliant doccie is not about resilience in the face of great odds, then the message is lost upon us

Jonathan Jansen
Columnist
4 min read
Ideas

The post-Madiba generation is fumbling the baton

That we’ve been retiring when it’s our turn to step up is not hard to understand

Nicole Fritz
Columnist
3 min read
Read more

WORLD

THE NEWS YOU DON'T NORMALLY GET TO HEAR

World

Happy as can Bibi: Mideast peace deal is a big win for Israel

ANALYSIS | The Abraham Accords save Netanyahu’s skin, and even bolster Trump’s election chances

By James Rothwell
2 min read
World

US west coast air now dirtiest in world as fires put area in chokehold

If that’s not enough, the Amazon could become a savanna and we’re due to run out of names for hurricanes

By Olivia Rudgard
2 min read
World

Sorry, carnivores, we have to go veggie or Earth is doomed, UN warns

We haven’t met any of the vital biodiversity targets in the past year. Now habitats are in really deep trouble

By Emma Gatten and Olivia Rudgard
2 min read
World

‘Stately homo of heavy metal’: The secret that nearly killed me

Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford has written one of the most candid and surprising memoirs of the year

By Neil McCormick
7 min read
Read more

LIFE

ALL THE OTHER THINGS THAT MATTER

Lifestyle

Can the super-rich save fashion (at the risk of being unfashionable)?

While some houses downplay luxury credentials, Dolce & Gabbana seems to be betting on the elite

By Lisa Armstrong
5 min read
Lifestyle

Nike ticks another box and Olympian Perri Edwards is running with it

In true Nike style, the sportswear giant is leading the way with its first collection for expectant mothers

By Sahil Harilal
1 min read
Lifestyle

Art and fashion unite to make love in Marina Abramovic’s opera

Hearts, style and art meld in this collaboration with Riccardo Tisci

By Sahil Harilal
1 min read
Lifestyle

The farce awakens: fuming ‘Star Wars’ actor cut from China ad

John Boyega was removed from the Chinese version of the aftershave ad he helped to create

By Jack Hardy
2 min read
READ MORE

SPORT

FINISH LINE ESSENTIALS

Sport

Our heritage gets the boot when clubs are sold – it has to stop

We can’t wait until Pirates, Chiefs or Sundowns are sold and their names decimated like Highlands and Wits

Sazi Hadebe
Sports reporter
5 min read
Sport

Tiger and the tragedy at Winged Foot: the moment an icon went dark

His last US Open there was mired in grief. Now, age and injury are against him at a course that suits him so well

By James Corrigan
3 min read
Sport

Blast from the past: No Fonnie business as SA make history against NZ

Today in SA sports history: September 17

David Isaacson
Sports reporter
2 min read
Read more

SNAPSHOT

Aggrieved burial undertakers protest outside the department of home affairs in the Cape Town CBD.
WREATH HAVOC Aggrieved burial undertakers protest outside the department of home affairs in the Cape Town CBD.
Image: Esa Alexander

6 things you need to know

IEC in race to hold 111 delayed by-elections

The Independent Electoral Commission is racing against time to ensure it holds at least 111 by-elections across the country which were postponed by Covid-19. After the announcement of the lockdown in March the IEC had to approach the electoral court to postpone all by-elections. But now it only has until February 2021 to ensure all the by-elections are held. According to the Municipal Structures Act, by-elections cannot take place six months or less before local government elections. IEC CEO Sy Mamabolo said the 111 by-elections do not include Tshwane's, since the council was dissolved by the Gauteng government in 2020. This matter is still being battled out in the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court after the DA challenged the decision by the Gauteng government to dissolve the council.

Newborn found in grave covered with rocks

A newborn girl was found alive on Wednesday morning in a shallow grave in the Ikageng, Greenfields, area of Potchefstroom. A residents heard the child crying, said ER24's Russel Meiring, and on inspection found the baby in a shallow grave, covered with rocks. When paramedics arrived shortly after 7am they found the child had been rescued from the grave and was in the care of a young woman. “Medics assessed the child and found she had sustained an injury on her upper arm and was suffering from hypothermia. The child was treated, gradually warmed and transported to a nearby provincial hospital for urgent care.” Local authorities were on the scene to investigate.

Eskom denies load-shedding overshot

Eskom has denied exceeding stage 4 load-shedding limits. This after energy expert Ted Blom said the utility, on September 2 and 3, had shed more than 5,000MW during stage 4 load-shedding, which allows for up to 4,000MW of the national load to be shed. But Eskom’s Sikonathi Mantshantsha said load curtailment should also be taken into account. At stage 4 Eskom could request any major industrial consumer, such as a mine or smelter, to curtail up to 20% of load for a maximum of two hours. This amounted to 1,200MW of demand, which formed part of the licensed load curtailment. “For years Eskom has been doing it and it pays these companies not to produce for those two hours … If you add that 1,200MW with the 4,000MW that we load-shed from the public in stage 4, you get to the 5,000MW Ted Blom is talking about."

Barbados set to ditch colonial past

Barbados wants to remove Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state and become a republic. A former British colony that gained independence in 1966, Barbados has maintained a formal link with the British monarchy, but “the time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind,” said Barbados governor general Sandra Masonas. “Barbadians want a Barbadian head of state. This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving. Hence, Barbados will take the next logical step towards full sovereignty and become a republic by the time we celebrate our 55th anniversary of independence.” That anniversary will come in November 2021. Buckingham Palace said: “Barbados and the UK are united in our shared history, culture, language and much more. We have an enduring partnership and will continue to work with them, along with all our valued Caribbean partners.” — Reuters

'Hotel Rwanda' hero could face life in prison

Paul Rusesabagina, portrayed as a hero in a Hollywood movie about Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, may face 25 years to life in prison if convicted of various offences, the prosecution said. Rusesabagina was charged in a Kigali court on Monday with 13 counts, including terrorism, complicity in murder and forming or joining an irregular armed group. He declined to respond to the charges, saying he wanted to take a plea to each individual count. His case has thrust a spotlight onto President Paul Kagame’s government, which is accused by rights groups of stifling dissent. — Reuters

India, China troops face off

Indian and Chinese border troops exchanged gunfire last week, days before a meeting of their foreign ministers, Indian officials said on Wednesday. The two sides have had a long-standing agreement for troops not to use firearms at the Line of Actual Control or the informal border, and for 45 years no shot has been fired. But since late last month, there have been three incidents of warning shots fired in the western Himalayas, where troops are locked in a face-off over competing territorial claims, officials said. The two sides are jockeying for advantageous positions on the undemarcated mountain border in the Ladakh sector which adjoins Tibet. — Reuters

THE VISUAL SIDE

CROSSWORDS

GIVE YOUR BRAIN SOME EXERCISE