Table of contents for 2026-01-05 in Cape Times

If you have been living in slick buns, barely-there make-up and neutral everything, consider this your official heads-up. According to Pinterest Predicts, 2026 is shaping up to be the year we finally move on from the clean-girl aesthetic that has ruled our feeds for what feels like forever. In its place comes drama, excess and a very loud return to self-expression. Pinterest Predicts is not about wild guesses. It is built on billions of searches and years of data, and over the past six years, 88 per cent of its predictions have come true. That makes it one of the most reliable crystal balls in fashion and beauty. So if you love knowing what is coming next, this is your sneak peek into a far more expressive 2026. Fashion is…

South African media personality and reality TV star, LaConco (born Nonkanyiso Conco), recently shared advice on Instagram that has sparked conversation. In a selfie posted to her Instagram Stories, she wrote: “I don’t even want the question that says, ‘what’s your skin routine?’ because most of you ngeke nikwazi ukwenza engikwenzayo (You will never be able to do what I do).” She then later outlined her top three steps for achieving clear skin. Firstly, she advised committing to celibacy for at least two years or more. Secondly, she recommended taking cold showers or baths consistently. Thirdly, she suggested training at the gym five times a week, with each session lasting between one hour and one hour and 30-minutes. “I don’t know if you will manage number three, but my list…

THOUSANDS of people are expected to line parts of the city centre for the official Tweede Nuwe Jaar street parade despite preparations for this year’s event being marred by controversy over the route change. The City maintained that the Tweede Nuwe Jaar Festival hosted by the Kaapse Klopse Karnival Association (KKKA) would go ahead along the contested route, from Chiappini Street, along Somerset Road, before heading into the DHL Stadium. Muneeb Gambeno, spokesperson for the KKKA said there was “an incredible” sense of pride, excitement and anticipation among troupes and communities. He said KKKA’s decision to bring the parade into the DHL Stadium was a powerful statement that shows how far the tradition has come and affirms its rightful place on the biggest stages in the country. “The celebrations extend…

Local authorities in KwaZulu-Natal say the 2025/2026 festive season has seen a “historic decrease” in road fatalities and accidents, while the South Coast tourism sector reported strong performance despite a shorter holiday period. Siboniso Duma, MEC for Transport and Human Settlements, said that while final figures will be released after the end of the festive season period by Transport Minister, Barbra Creecy, the department welcomed the historic decrease in road fatalities and accidents. From the start of the festive season to January 2, 2026, Duma reported a decrease in both crashes and fatalities when comparing 2025 to the previous year, 2024. In 2025, there were 187 crashes and 207 fatalities, down from 203 crashes and 237 fatalities in 2024. This represents an 8% decrease in crashes and a 13% decrease…

WILL we ever witness peace in our lifetime? It is a chilling and grim fact that we as the current generation, have been witnesses to over 70 years of continued warfare in every corner of our poverty-stricken world. It seems the mystical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse still rides their fiery steeds across the lands, war, famine, pestilence and death and our constant companions. Across the world, military conflicts are raging unabated, while the United Nations is powerless to intervene. When you read the news, it seems humanity is always at war somewhere. Europe, Asia and The Middle East are about to explode in a fireball that could consume the entire area. Throughout world history, nations, alliances and imperial empires have battled one another. Humanity has practised warfare as a…

NYANISO Qwesha's depressing narrative of a young, recently-qualified jobseeker evoked a strong feeling of hopelessness (Cape Times, 29 December). It pointed out that corporations are shrinking, and it will need a change in government policy to get them to grow again. Current Labour Law discriminates against the employer, because government ideology is still stuck in the "oppressed worker" mode. But not many workers are being oppressed any more because there aren't many jobs, so maybe ideology needs to take a back seat while practicality takes over? Let's try some fair labour legislation - it's got to be better than photographs of hopeless young faces. And how long will it take for those hopeless (but educated) young people to realise why they are jobless, and decide to exercise their vote against…

The United States’ brazen military intervention to depose and capture the democratically-elected President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, is not an act of liberation. It is a criminal violation of the United Nations Charter and a flagrant assault on the sovereignty of a nation. This reckless operation, ordered by President Donald Trump under manufactured charges, shreds the very international order America claims to uphold. The UN Security Council exists precisely to prevent such unilateral, aggressive acts of war by one state against another. By bypassing it entirely, the US has declared itself judge, jury, and executioner, reducing the foundational principles of the post-war world to ashes. This is not diplomacy; it is the law of the jungle. President Trump would do himself a historic favour to look at a history book.…

Less than a year after watching flames raze his home in the Altadena foothills, Ted Koerner has moved into a brand new house, one of the first to rebuild in this Los Angeles suburb. It has been an uphill battle, and Koerner is visibly moved as he brings his dog, Daisy, back home. “We’ve been through a lot this year,” he said. Altadena was hardest hit by the fires that ravaged parts of the sprawling US metropolis in January 2025. Thousands of homes were destroyed and 19 people died in the town – compared to 12 killed in the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood. To rebuild his home, Koerner, a 67-year-old head of a security company, had to front up several hundred thousand dollars as his mortgage lender refused to release…

SYDNEY: England and Australia’s cricket teams honoured at the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney yesterday emergency service personnel and members of the public who responded during a mass shooting at Bondi Beach. The on-field guard of honour ahead of the clash was accompanied by loud applause from the sold-out crowd. The biggest cheer came when hero Ahmed al Ahmed, who ran towards one of the attackers and wrestled the gun from him, walked out. Father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram are accused of targeting a Hanukkah event at the beach on December 14, not far from the Sydney Cricket Ground. Fifteen people were killed and dozens wounded in what authorities have described as an antisemitic terrorist attack. Cricket Australia chief Todd Greenberg called it “a devastating tragedy”. “The incredible…

Parenting in 2025 sometimes felt like standing in quicksand. No matter how hard we pushed forward, technology’s relentless grip on our children pulled us back. As a mother, I’ve watched our family dinners interrupted by the siren call of TikTok notifications, quiet evenings replaced by endless scrolling, and the glow of screens spilling into my kids’ bedrooms at night. And I’m not alone. A recent poll by the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital found that 83% of parents believe mental health among children and teens is declining, with screen time and social media topping the list of concerns. These findings aren’t just numbers; they’re a reflection of the gnawing guilt, worry and helplessness that so many of us feel. Technology isn’t going anywhere. But as parents, we must ask: how do…

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) says the mass mortality of fish in the Hartenbos Estuary in Mossel Bay is not due to a red-tide, but is the result of sewerage discharge and resultant eutrophication and ammonia toxicity. This comes after the Mossel Bay municipality said recent water samples for the Hartenbos Estuary were compliant with applicable standards. DFFE on Sunday confirmed that the large numbers of dead white mussel, whelks and other shellfish that washed out at St Helena Bay and Elandsbaai on the West Coast was confined to these areas. Observations by Fisheries Control Officers (FCOs) and satellite imagery indicate visible red-tides from Elandsbaai 100 km northward, to above the Olifants Estuary on the West Coast. “There have been no mortalities of fish or…

A BELOVED German Shepherd's life was saved by the team of dedicated veterinarians at the Animal Welfare Society of South Africa (AWS) after he was bitten by a venomous scorpion while playing in his garden. According to AWS, the dog named Ringo had collapsed and began having seizures. He was then rushed to AWS where he was treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The AWS explained in a statement: “Ringo, a handsome four-year-old German Shepherd, was happily playing in his garden when tragedy struck without warning. “In an instant, he collapsed in front of his devastated family and began having severe seizures. “He was rushed to our hospital over the weekend and admitted straight into ICU. After assessment, it was discovered that Ringo had been stung by a poisonous…

WHAT a sad article written by Nyaniso Owesha in the Cape Times of December 29. As he says once the excitement is over with all the celebrations of matric or varsity being done and dusted, then comes the moment. The quiet one. . When reality clears its throat and asks the simple question. What next? Scary! The sad fact of life is as I see it there are simply too many of us going for the same slice of the pie. Every year we read the numbers applying for schools and varsities and see the number of posts available; 60 000 (applications) for 6000 places; 40.000 for 3000 places etc. I read an article by Pieter Groenwald, Minister of Correctional Services who said they had about…

CURRENTLY, a struggle for the identity of the University of Cape Town (UCT) is playing itself out in the Cape High Court. But ostensibly it didn’t start out that way. In June 2024, the UCT Council endorsed two resolutions. Earlier, in April 2024, the UCT Senate, the highest academic body of that institution, had passed the identical resolutions, which the Council then took up. One resolution proscribed contacts between UCT academics and researchers, and the Israel Defence Force (IDF) and the Israeli military generally. The other rejected the definition of antisemitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), and opted instead for the definition of the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (JDA). In August 2024, Professor Adam Mendelsohn, head of UCT’s Department of Historical Studies and the Director of the Kaplan…

US President Donald Trump said at the weekend the US will “run” Venezuela after the US military raided the country and captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, who are being transported to New York. “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago private club in Florida. “We don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in, and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years. So we are going to run the country,” he said. “We’re there now. We’re going to stay until such time as the proper transition can take place,” Trump added, offering no timeline for how…

Bangladesh will request their matches at next month’s T20 World Cup be played in Sri Lanka, after India forced a Bangladeshi player to quit the Indian Premier League. “We will not accept any insult to Bangladeshi cricket, cricketers and Bangladesh under any circumstances,” said Asif Nazrul, Youth and Sports Adviser in the interim government, in a statement carried by the state-run BSS news agency Sunday. “The days of slavery are over.” Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman was on Saturday released by the Kolkata Knight Riders after the IPL team were “advised” by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to do so, following tensions between the neighbouring nations. Nazrul said he had ordered the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to write to the International Cricket Council (ICC). “The board should…

GENEVA: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for Israel to end a ban on humanitarian agencies that provided aid in Gaza, saying he was “deeply concerned” at the development. Guterres “calls for this measure to be reversed, stressing that international non-governmental organizations are indispensable to life-saving humanitarian work and that the suspension risks undermining the fragile progress made during the ceasefire,” his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said. “This recent action will further exacerbate the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians,” he added. Israel last Thursday suspended 37 foreign humanitarian organisations from accessing the Gaza Strip after they had refused to share lists of their Palestinian employees with government officials. The ban includes Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which has 1 200 staff members in the Palestinian territories – the majority of whom are in…

In South Africa, the festive season often hides a heartbreaking reality for thousands of domestic animals. While most families are celebrating, local shelters such as the SPCA, Domestic Animal Rescue Group (DARG), TEARS and other animal shelters face a devastating surge in pet abandonment. Every December and January, animal welfare organisations in Durban, Gauteng, Cape Town, and across the country face immense pressure. This surge is caused by everything from the “Christmas puppy” phenomenon to animals fleeing in terror from New Year’s fireworks, pushing these organisations to their breaking point Recently, two dogs were rescued from the Wilgespruit River in Muldersdrift, Cape Town. “We suspect the dogs were thrown into and swept downriver from the Peter Road bridge in Honeydew,” said DA councillor Shan Cochrane. Elmien and Daniel Parker from…

SOUTH Africa should brace for a strong American response for its call on the United Nations Security Council to urgently address the US’s military strike on Venezuela, says political analyst at the North West University, Professor Andre Duvenhage. The message sent by the US’s strike on Venezuela to many countries is that “the Americans are prepared to act and this is also applicable to South Africa”, he said. “By no means I am going to argue that the Americans are right by taking over the government of Venezuela because to me that is, in a way, similar to the Russian attack on Ukraine and I am against that attack by the Russia against Ukraine on principles of sovereignty and the same applies to America taking on Venezuela. Although, I think…

VENEZUEL’S president Nicolás Maduro was in a New York jail yesterday after a shock US snatch-and-grab raid to remove him from power and assert Washington's control over the oil-rich South American nation. The US military carried out air strikes on Venezuela’s capital Caracas early on Saturday. Commandos captured Maduro and his wife, who were flown to New York City where they face drug-trafficking and weapons charges. Handcuffed and in sandals, Maduro was escorted by federal agents through a Manhattan US Drug Enforcement Administration facility, a video posted by the White House on social media showed. “Good night, happy new year,” the 63-year-old leftist was heard saying in English. Maduro has led Venezuela for more than a decade through a series of elections widely thought to have been rigged. He came…

EVENTS in Venezuela during the last 48 hours are beyond belief. The absurdity of the Trump administration’s illegitimate and illegal kidnapping of a sitting President and his wife of a sovereign country and taking over the running of that country is to be condemned outright. The Trump administration remains the biggest threat to world peace in modern times. Not only is the Trump administration in conflict with article 24 of the United Nations charter, the bombing and attack on a sovereign state is illegal under international law. This criminal act by Trump and his cohorts is another stain on the American people who gave power to a madman and need to take it back in the upcoming mid-term elections by returning America to decency and legitimacy via the ballot…

On December 26, 2025, the Middle East Eye published an article on the document issued by Hamas, Israel to allow an impartial investigation into October 7. With all the noise of the Hasbara (public advocacy), for which Israel has increased the budget to $780 million (about R13 billion) to counter negative perceptions about Israel, many of us have forgotten that a formal independent investigation report is still outstanding. It might not be that easy to find the right people for such an investigation. Many intellectual critics of Israel are in their final years. Noam Chomsky, consistently cited as one of the most quoted authors of all time, and author of The Fateful Triangle, is in his nineties. As a linguist, he tears apart micro details that are often…

Violent fighting broke at the weekend between the Rwandan-backed M23 armed group and pro-Kinshasa forces in several towns around the strategic eastern DR Congo city of Uvira, local sources said. The resource-rich east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which borders Rwanda as well as Burundi, has been beset by 30 years of continual violence. The situation has worsened since 2021 amid the resurgence of the M23. Having seized the two main eastern cities of Goma and Bukavu late last year, the group launched a new offensive in December in South Kivu province and gained control on December 10 of Uvira, a strategic city of several hundred thousand people near Burundi, DRC’s ally. The group also took control of border areas at a time when the DRC and Rwanda were…

LONDON: The British Ministry of Defence said it cooperated with France on Saturday night to strike an underground facility in Syria that had likely been used by the Islamic State group to store weapons. “Royal Air Force aircraft have completed successful strikes against Daesh in a joint operation with France,” the ministry said in a statement, using the Arabic acronym for IS. “This facility had been occupied by Daesh, most likely to store weapons and explosives. The area around the facility is devoid of any civilian habitation,” the statement added. The ministry said there was no indication the bombing north of the ancient site of Palmyra had posed any risk to civilians. IS was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 but still maintains a presence, particularly in the country’s vast…

PROTEAS coach Shukri Conrad believes that the 19-year-old Kwena Maphaka can play an important role in the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in India following the announcement of South Africa’s 15-player squad on Friday. Maphaka has recently returned from injury, one that kept him sidelined for weeks. However, on Friday, Conrad and Convenor Selector Patrick Moroney announced that the 19-year-old has been included in the squad for the showpiece event. Maphaka’s inclusion meant that Ottneil Baartman, who played in the 2024 T20 World Cup final, and in last month’s T20 series in India, would be excluded from the squad. Conrad believes that Maphaka has the X-factor in T20 cricket. “With regards to Kwena, Kwena is a bit of an X-factor in T20,” Conrad told SportsBoom.co.za in an exclusive interview.…