Unpacking the latest news

IN your Cape Times today we unpack the latest developments in the state capture commission of inquiry where a Standard Bank official testified before chairperson and Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

Ian Sinton, Standard Bank’s former head of legal compliance, told the commission that a R3.5 million mortgage bond secured by the Guptas from the Bank of Baroda in favour of one of the wives of then president Jacob Zuma was one of the factors leading to Standard Bank cutting business ties with the family.

The commission will also hear testimonies from other commercial banks about the impact state capture had on their businesses.

The Western Cape High Court heard that murder and rape accused Mortimer Sounders had intended to kill 3-year-old Courtney Pieters.

This was according to Judge Pearl Mantame as the State and defence made final arguments before her yesterday.

This is a trial that this newspaper has covered since the beginning.

We also extensively reported on the child going missing from her Elsies River home before her body was found in a shallow grave.

We will also report when the court hands down judgment next month.

We feature a story about a microsurgical procedure used to retrieve sperm cells from a man with testicular failure, which has for the first time produced a successful pregnancy in South Africa.

The intricate testicular sperm extraction (Micro-TESE) surgery on a 38-year-old man with nonobstructive azoospermia, also known as testicular failure was performed by Stellenbosch University urologist and male infertility expert Dr Amir Zarrabi.

The victory of young soccer stars from Nyanga who defied the odds to become the province’s first team to win the national Danone Nations Cup rounds off our page one.

Jubilant peers, parents and teachers welcomed back the national champions with posters and songs at the Nomlinganiselo Primary school in New Crossroads yesterday.

The young stars will compete in an international competition in Barcelona, Spain, next year.