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News24.com | De Lille accuses DA of delaying court challenge to Steenhuisen report

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Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille says the court challenge she launched over the DA’s internal “Steenhuisen report” was postponed in the Western Cape High Court on Thursday because the DA apparently refused to hand over the evidence which informed the findings in the report.

She was demanding two documents so the case could proceed.

The first was a letter from Cape Town safety and security mayoral committee member JP Smith that she says addresses allegations pertaining to security upgrades to her home and the shutting down of the City of Cape Town’s special investigation unit.

ALSO READ: De Lille tells DA why she should not be removed as mayor

In a statement, De Lille said she had been asking for this letter since September 2017 but has had no luck.

The second item was an SMS she allegedly sent to someone regarding the scoring of Achmat Ebrahim’s performance at the time he applied for the position of City manager.

“It is only fair I receive this as this SMS was relied upon to initiate disciplinary action against me. We are demanding from the DA the name of the person that I allegedly sent the SMS to, the number of the phone which I allegedly sent the SMS to and a copy of the SMS,” she said.

Report not part of charges

De Lille and some of her mayoral committee members have been the subject of a report compiled by the City of Cape Town council as well as an internal party report.

The council report, an independent Bowman Gilfillan report, found apparent prima facie evidence against the mayor of “gross misconduct” and “dereliction of duty”, the DA’s federal executive said last week.

The contents of that report, however, did not form part of the internal charges against her.

She made representations to the federal executive on Wednesday on why she should not be removed from her post as mayor.

The internal “Steenhuisen report”, named after DA chief whip John Steenhuisen, alleged that De Lille was a vindictive leader who “clearly had something to hide”, News24 reported.

De Lille said that without a full record of evidence, the report could only amount to a “collection of feelings and baseless anecdotes”.

‘We will not litigate through the media’

De Lille’s challenge of the “Steenhuisen report” was seen on the civil trial court roll on Thursday but did not have a judge allocated to it.

She said lawyers for herself and the DA went to see Judge President John Hlophe on Thursday morning to discuss possible hearing dates.

“I have now been forced into the position of having to launch yet another separate court application in order to get the documents which the DA has been using to smear my name.”

She said Hlophe agreed that all the cases should be consolidated and he would allocate a judge as soon as the papers were finalised.

“My counsel believes that this will be by about the middle of June this year.”

DA federal council deputy chairperson Natasha Mazzone said: “There is absolutely no merit to Mayor De Lille’s statement that the DA was delaying in court today. We will not litigate through the media. We respect and abide by all decisions and orders of the court and today was just a part of normal litigation proceedings.”

Sport24.co.za | Stefanidi feels sympathy for Semenya

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Doha – Greek pole vaulter Katerina Stefanidi has suggested the IAAF trim her taller rivals’ arms and legs in their bid for equality, in a swipe at new rules on women’s testosterone for certain track events.

Track and field’s governing body unveiled the rules, which come into effect on November 1, 2018, to counteract hyperandrogenism, the medical condition which causes women to produce high levels of male sex hormones.

From then, affected athletes will only be able to compete if they take medication to reduce those levels.

But the rules, which the IAAF puts under the heading “Difference of Sexual Development” (DSD), cover only events from 400m to the mile because the IAAF’s medical and science department says it has data showing an advantage for hyperandrogenous athletes over such distances.

Pole vaulter Stefanidi, the reigning world, Olympic and European champion, admitted to feeling sympathy for the likes of South Africa’s two-time Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya.

READ: ASA gets in Caster’s corner, challenges IAAF ruling

Semenya has long attracted debate because of her powerful physique related to hyper-androgenism, the issue of which is controversial because it pits principles of fair competition against the rights of women born with the condition.

“I feel bad for her,” Stefanidi said of Semenya.

“It’s not her choice, but at the same time I wish more energy was put into promoting the sport, bringing more money into the sport, more sponsors and more than trying to help one event or an athlete in an event that got second instead of first because somebody else had more natural testosterone.

“There are obviously some issues there, but I cannot judge.

“They (the IAAF) want to create equality, whether that’s equality or not… and at which point do you stop? As some people mentioned on social media, I’m one of the shortest girls on the track right now.

“What are we going to do? Are we going to cut everyone’s legs or arms to make it equal because there’s definitely a correlation between height and pole vault?”

Stefanidi added: “If you’re going to have a rule like that then you maybe you should include all the events.

“I just find it bizarre in the way it’s only using a few events. If you make a decision like that, maybe include everything. If someone like that comes into the pole vault or high jump, are we going to add those events next year?”

Stefanidi also expressed her concerns about the statistical veracity of the study on 48 pole vaulters between the 2013 and 2015 world championships, the results of which were used to decide whether the event was included within the parameters of the new rules.

“I read the study, I understand the science and statistics and I can tell you the statistics are very problematic,” the Greek said, before concluding: “I think genetically superior people will win.”

The IAAF rule changes did get support from Paula Radcliffe, although she described them as “a complete minefield”.

“I think it has been made with the IAAF trying to make it fair for the majority,” Radcliffe told Press Association Sport in London.

But, she added, “there isn’t a fair answer; there’s no solution that is fair to everybody”.

“I get really annoyed when I see these arguments come back that it’s racist or it’s sexist. It’s none of those.

“It’s just trying to make fairness out of a situation that is pretty much impossible.”

Radcliffe, women’s marathon world record holder and currently member of the IAAF Athletes’ Commission, said it was “completely unfair” to make Semenya the “poster girl” for the issue, insisting she had done nothing wrong.

“She’s just the person winning by the furthest, so people are pointing fingers at her.

“If this was one person we wouldn’t be facing this issue. We’d just let it happen.

“It’s the fact that it’s not and girls on the start line know they’re never going to get a medal in an 800m. That’s the bottom line.”

eNCA | Prophet Mboro followers protest outside Afro Worldview over canned programme

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JOHANNESBURG – Followers of Paseka Motsoeneng better known as “Prophet Mboro” on Thursday protested outside Gupta-linked 24-hour television news channel Afro Worldview in Midrand, where they demanded that his canned church programme is reinstated.

Followers of the televangelist of Incredible Happenings Ministries handed their memorandum of demand to the owner of Afro Worldview Mzwandile Manyi, who bought the station from the Gupta family. The television station was previously known as ANN7.

About 100 protesters, some of them youths from COSAS – the Congress of South African Students – complained about the station’s failure to air the Incredible Happenings Ministries programme on Sunday.

“As an organisation, we had our slot in the show that was going to be a reflection of the good work the prophet has done for both our organisation and our schools,” Cosas Gauteng said in an earlier statement.

Ekurhuleni Hostels residence secretary Zwane said:“We are extremely angry and outraged at the fact that the Incredible Happenings show was not aired last Sunday as promised.”

Zwane added: “We demand answers as to why there was no show.”

Manyi said Mboro’s show was not aired because it did not meet Afro Worldview editorial policy or Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) regulations.

“We tried to make the show work but it was impossible for it to continue because if we had continued with it would have meant that Multichoice must remove us from the platform with immediate effect,” explained Manyi.

Although the prophet and his followers gave Manyi a seven-day ultimatum to come and address them in their own community it was not clear what they would do next.The protesters also demanded a refund for the money paid to air the canned programme.

African News Agency

eNCA | IAAF testosterone rule change should include all events: Stefanidi

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DOHA, Qatar – Greek pole vaulter Katerina Stefanidi has suggested the IAAF trim her taller rivals’ arms and legs in their bid for equality, in a swipe at new rules on women’s testosterone for certain track events.

Track and field’s governing body unveiled the rules, which come into effect on November 1, 2018, to counteract hyperandrogenism, the medical condition which causes women to produce high levels of male sex hormones.

From then, affected athletes will only be able to compete if they take medication to reduce those levels.

But the rules, which the IAAF puts under the heading “Difference of Sexual Development” (DSD), cover only events from 400m to the mile because the IAAF’s medical and science department says it has data showing an advantage for hyperandrogenous athletes over such distances.

Pole vaulter Stefanidi, the reigning world, Olympic and European champion, admitted to feeling sympathy for the likes of South Africa’s two-time Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya.

Semenya has long attracted debate because of her powerful physique related to hyperandrogenism, the issue of which is controversial because it pits principles of fair competition against the rights of women born with the condition.

“I feel bad for her,” Stefanidi said of Semenya, with the South African athletics federation stressing Thursday it would challenge the “skewed” rules at Lausanne’s Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Not her choice

“It’s not her choice,” Stefanidi said. “But at the same time I wish more energy was put into promoting the sport, bringing more money into the sport, more sponsors and more than trying to help one event or an athlete in an event that got second instead of first because somebody else had more natural testosterone.

“There are obviously some issues there, but I cannot judge.

“They (the IAAF) want to create equality, whether that’s equality or not… and at which point do you stop? As some people mentioned on social media, I’m one of the shortest girls on the track right now.

“What are we going to do? Are we going to cut everyone’s legs or arms to make it equal because there’s definitely a correlation between height and pole vault?”

Stefanidi added: “If you’re going to have a rule like that then you maybe you should include all the events.

“I just find it bizarre in the way it’s only using a few events. If you make a decision like that, maybe include everything. If someone like that comes into the pole vault or high jump, are we going to add those events next year?”

Stefanidi also expressed her concerns about the statistical veracity of the study on 48 pole vaulters between the 2013 and 2015 world championships, the results of which were used to decide whether the event was included within the parameters of the new rules.

“I read the study, I understand the science and statistics and I can tell you the statistics are very problematic,” the Greek said, before concluding: “I think genetically superior people will win.”

Backing from Radcliffe

The IAAF rule changes did get support from Paula Radcliffe, although she described them as “a complete minefield”.

“I think it has been made with the IAAF trying to make it fair for the majority,” Radcliffe told Press Association Sport in London.

But, she added, “there isn’t a fair answer; there’s no solution that is fair to everybody”.

“I get really annoyed when I see these arguments come back that it’s racist or it’s sexist. It’s none of those.

“It’s just trying to make fairness out of a situation that is pretty much impossible.”

Radcliffe, women’s marathon world record holder and currently member of the IAAF Athletes’ Commission, said it was “completely unfair” to make Semenya the “poster girl” for the issue, insisting she had done nothing wrong.

“She’s just the person winning by the furthest, so people are pointing fingers at her.

“If this was one person we wouldn’t be facing this issue. We’d just let it happen.

“It’s the fact that it’s not and girls on the start line know they’re never going to get a medal in an 800m. That’s the bottom line.”

AFP

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Health24.com | Breakthrough in lung cancer treatment cuts risk of dying by 50%

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Drugs designed to trigger a patient’s immune system may help boost survival for those battling lung cancer, two new studies found.

The first study found that when the immunotherapy drug Keytruda (pembrolizumab) was combined with standard chemotherapy, the chance that a patient would die within the next 11 months plummeted by more than 50%, compared with being treated with chemo alone.

An encouraging note

The combination treatment also drove down the risk that the cancer would spread by nearly as much, added the research team from NYU Langone Health in New York City.

In a similar vein, another team of researchers gave patients diagnosed with advanced lung cancer either a combination of the immunotherapy drugs Opdivo (nivolumab) and Yervoy (ipilimumab) or standard chemotherapy. Those on the two immunotherapy drugs were 42% less likely to see their disease progress after a year.

Taken together, the two findings offer an encouraging note in an effort to improve the odds against what is the leading cause of cancer-related death, experts said.

“Chemotherapy remains the standard of care for the majority of [lung cancer] patients, and is a very poor standard,” explained Dr Leena Gandhi, lead author of the NYU Langone study. In most cases, she said, chemo prolongs life by just a year or even less.

But the combination approach “resulted in a marked improvement in response, progression-free survival and overall survival in all patients,” she said.

Dr Gandhi is director of Langone’s Thoracic Medical Oncology Program at the Perlmutter Cancer Center.

Serious side effects

The studies were also published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The second study was led by Dr Matthew Hellmann, assistant attending at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

Dr Gandhi’s team enlisted more than 600 lung cancer patients from over 118 treatment centres around the world.

Of these, roughly two-thirds were randomly assigned to receive Keytruda and chemotherapy. The remaining third was treated with chemotherapy alone.

Investigators found that in both groups about two-thirds of the patients experienced serious side effects, though the combination group faced a 5% higher risk for kidney trouble.

But compared with those in the chemo-only group, those in the combination group saw their chances increase for overall survival and for halting the progression of their disease.

Combination therapy more expensive

Hellmann’s group followed 299 patients with advanced lung cancer for close to a year. One group was given the immunotherapy drugs Opdivo and Yervoy, while the other received chemo.

“Patients who received the immunotherapy combination were 42% less likely to have their disease progress,” Hellmann said in a statement.

As for costs, Gandhi said combination drug therapy (approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2017) is more expensive than chemo alone. But she suggested that the added expense should be weighed against “the magnitude of the benefit”.

Dr Norman Edelman, senior medical advisor for the American Lung Association, said both findings are a step forward, given that “until very recently the treatment of lung cancer has been dismal”.

“Because most lung cancer is detected after it’s already spread, we get five-year cures in less than 20% of patients using chemotherapy alone,” Edelman noted.

Substantial breakthrough

“But recently we’ve developed drugs that are tailored to the specific genetics of a patient’s tumour,” he explained. “And that was really the first breakthrough, because it extended life for a small group of people, about 10 to 15%.

“But what’s exciting about these two immune system therapies is that the researchers didn’t limit themselves to just specific genetic variations [in patients],” Edelman said.

“The first study went for all the patients, and the second study also focused on a much larger group of patients. And both found that their approaches offered a substantial improvement – in terms of prolonging life and reducing disease progression – to a much larger percentage of people,” he explained.

“And in the case of the first study, if their findings hold up, it’s really a substantial breakthrough, because they suggest this can be a first-line treatment,” Edelman added.

“In other words, you can use this instead of chemotherapy. Which is truly a big deal, because chemo is not terribly effective and has all kinds of side effects,” he said.

Image credit: iStock