The portfolio committee on health will be briefed by the state attorney on the constitutionality of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill, committee chairperson Sibongiseni Dhlomo said on Thursday.

On Tuesday, DA leader Mmusi Maimane questioned the constitutionality of the bill. He wrote to National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise to urgently request that she instructs the parliamentary legal services to obtain a legal opinion on the bill before it appeared before the portfolio committee on health. He had also asked the DA’s legal team for an opinion on whether the bill is constitutional. 

The party is questioning its constitutionality as it will seemingly take away the provinces’ constitutionally enshrined right to handle health services.

In a statement, Dhlomo said as the committee started its work on the bill, it would be important to get a presentation from the state attorney on the legal advice it gave to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on the constitutionality of the NHI Bill.

“As the committee starts this process, we want to address the concerns raised by various people, including those who think they will find space to challenge the constitutionality of the NHI Bill.

“This should be done speedily, so that as we start with the NHI Bill we can set aside concerns and know the contribution of legal experts on the matter.

“The committee does not want anything untoward to delay public participation on the bill. However, we still want to address concerns, hence the importance of starting with the state attorney,” said Dhlomo.

Since the introduction of the bill to Parliament last week, the DA and ANC’s war of words about it has intensified.

Following Dlomo’s announcement, DA MP and spokesperson on health Siviwe Gwarube claimed he had buckled under pressure from the DA to investigate the bill’s constitutionality.

“The DA and indeed the public have serious concerns about the constitutionality of this bill and the ramifications it would pose to our already ailing economy,” Gwarube said in a statement.

“The NHI will disempower provinces and centralise health care in the national government – effectively creating another state-owned entity. The Constitution and the National Health Act have purposefully divided legislative powers between the two spheres of government in order to ensure checks and balances.

“The truth is that the NHI is doomed to fail because the ANC is attempting to use this bill to disguise its failure in providing quality public health care over the past 25 years.”

Gwarube said the DA had also noticed “what seems to be a co-ordinated attack from the ANC and its allies to spread misinformation about the DA’s position on universal health care”.

“We will not be detracted by their lies,” she added.

“The DA unequivocally supports universal health care. We will, however, not support a fundamentally problematic piece of legislation that will destroy the health sector and push the economy over the precipice.

“We are ready to debate the merits of the DA’s Sizani health plan, and the faults of the NHI. Ultimately, we want universal health care that fixes a broken system and puts the people first.”

GET THE NEWS at your fingertips and download the News24 app for Android here now. Get it for your iPhone here.

KEEP UPDATED on the latest news by subscribing to our FREE newsletter. – FOLLOW News24 on Twitter

Ousted eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede has told News24 that she will appeal her removal as the political head of the municipality.

In an interview with News24 on Wednesday, Gumede said she would be writing to the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) to find out how she had been branded incompetent.

“It’s important that I do that. All what I wish to know is the process. They [NEC] must say why they call me incompetent. I’m a leader internationally. I have accolades, they must prove how and why,” she said.

Shortly after, Gumede’s spokesperson Mthunzi Gumede told News24 that she had not decided on the steps to take to clear her name. The former mayor’s spokesperson said Gumede would be taking advice and looking at various avenues to clear her name.

READ | Women’s League decries ANC’s ‘gender double standards’ after Zandile Gumede axing

Gumede was suspended and subsequently fired from her position following a two-day special meeting of the ANC’s provincial executive committee (PEC), which enacted the recommendations of the provincial working committee (PWC) that she be recalled.

Provincial ANC secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli said the PWC, which compiled a report on local governance in the province, had raised complaints from residents about issues such as water provisions, water infrastructure, refuse removal, and allegations of fraud and corruption.

Gumede was placed on special leave in June, after she was arrested on charges of fraud and corruption related to a Durban Solid Waste tender in the metro.

READ | Zandile Gumede, Themba Njilo officially out as ANC makes sweeping leadership changes

Ntuli, however, said the decision to axe her, as well as the entire executive leadership in the eThekwini and Msunduzi municipalities, was not about the pending court matters, but about service delivery.

Gumede told News24: “I’m being shut down not to do my oversight. I’m not going to allow that. I’m not going to be taking that lying down. I’ll be using real instruments of my organisation. You can’t suppress me because I’m a women. Enough is enough.”

‘Everyone must be subjected to proper processes’

She contends that, during her tenure as eThekwini mayor, council had run smoothly. She also questioned the PWC’s report on her fitness, saying that it did not coincide with reports by the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), which had said “nothing about me being corrupt”.

While in the province last week, however, Cogta Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma noted the Auditor-General’s report which found that reasonable steps were not taken to prevent irregular expenditure of R731m in the metros last financial year. She added that the majority of the irregular expenditure was a result of non-compliance with supply chain regulations.

During the interview with News24, Gumede maintained her innocence, claiming she was being persecuted by her party because she was a woman. She said her male counterparts, who had court processes pending against them, had remained in their positions.

“I still maintain that the ANC must wait for the case to go on and my name needs to be cleared. Redeployment is done at times in the ANC because ANC does not owe you anything but, on this one, it goes with my dignity and history. I’m standing for women of South Africa, black and white. Our power cannot be cut down like a tree. It can’t be right that my organisation cannot follow proper protocol. Everyone must be subjected to proper processes.”

Her complaint of patriarchy in the organisation was echoed by ANC Women’s League president Bathabile Dlamini on Tuesday night during a dialogue with the president Cyril Ramaphosa. Dlamini lashed out at the party over a culture of “removing women from positions of power”.

‘This was an orchestrated attack on my character’

News24 understands Dlamini will meet with Ntuli this week to discuss the merits of Gumede’s removal.

Gumede added that she believed she was being targeted by some in the party’s KwaZulu-Natal top brass because she was an advocate of “radical economic transformation (RET)”.

“There are some who did not want to implement the RET framework. They pursue me and make sure to say she is corrupt. They frustrate me because I was pushing this programme. In the metro, we said business must advertise because people of eThekwini must get what they wanted.”

Gumede, who some say has lost favour within the province, insisted she had the backing of the eThekwini council.

“My councillors, 85% are clear in their programme. They are saying, if Ma goes what will happen? They arrested me on my birthday and they crucified me in Women’s Month. This was an orchestrated attack on my character.”

The party heavyweight, who until two months ago was the chair of the eThekwini region, the ANC’s biggest region in the country, rubbished claims that she was targeted because of her close proximity to former president Jacob Zuma.

“There is President Ramaphosa now. I respect former leaders. I entered during his time, however, I’m no Zuma ally,” she said.

*This story has been updated to include comment from Gumede’s spokesperson.

GET THE NEWS at your fingertips and download the News24 app for Android here now. Get it for your iPhone here.

KEEP UPDATED on the latest news by subscribing to our FREE newsletter.

– FOLLOW News24 on Twitter

The wife of Gerco van Deventer, the South African paramedic who has been held hostage in Libya since November 2017, has pleaded for his return, saying his family needs him.

Van Deventer, a 43-year-old father of three, was captured a few days after he arrived in Libya to work on a one-month contract. The paramedic from Swellendam in the Western Cape had been out of a job and was given an opportunity to work abroad by a friend. 

On November 3, 2017, Van Deventer was abducted along with three Turkish men in southern Libya. 

Van Deventer’s wife, Shereen, told News24 that he had flown to Libya at the end of October 2017 for contract work as a paramedic. “He was there for a number of days, waiting to fly out to Awbari Power Station… after which I found out that he was kidnapped.”

In a video released in January this year, a worn out Van Deventer pleads for his release, saying: “I’ve got a lot of problems. [My] blood sugar, I cannot control it. I’ve got a problem with my heart… there’s blood in my urine, I desperately need to see a doctor at a hospital. I need to be released as soon as possible… please, pay the money and let me be released.

“Let me go home to my family in South Africa. It’s been a long time. I haven’t seen or spoken to my children for all this time, I haven’t spoken to my wife…”

Van Deventer then breaks out into tears. “I just need to go home,” he says. “Please, please, please…” he pleads.

READ: ‘Please, please, please… I just need to go home’ – SA man held hostage in Libya

“It is, and continues to be, an extremely stressful and uncertain time for us as a family. We eagerly await his earliest release,” Shereen says.

“I know it is difficult for Gerco to find himself in a position where he cannot provide for his family, as well as struggling with his health. This remains a constant concern to us as a family.

“The last communication we received was the video posted on Facebook and, according to that, it is not going well with him. It seems that his health is deteriorating and he begs to be able to come home to his family.”

Humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers has been involved in negotiating Van Deventer’s release since the beginning of this year.

According to its founder and director, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, his captors are an Islamic splinter group associated with al-Qaeda, one of many operating all over the world.

A similar group had held South African Christo Bothma, 54, hostage in Burkina Faso. On July 30, News24 reported that Bothma is believed to have died in custody. 

No funds for ransom

“They want $1.5m (R22.9m) for [Van Deventer’s] release. His family, however, does not have the means to pay that kind of money,” Sooliman told News24 earlier.

“We made it clear to the captors that there is no funding available to pay ransom for [Van Deventer]. The reason he was in Libya, in the first place, was to earn a decent income.

“No company will pay ransom, no government will pay ransom and his family certainly doesn’t have the means. This has been made very clear to them. It is now a matter of waiting. Unfortunately, when you don’t have ransom to pay, the ‘waiting’ can run into years.”

According to Sooliman’s information, Van Deventer is still alive.

“This is very tough for the family. His wife is quite strong, I speak to her very often.”

Shereen says the family doesn’t have much to offer. “To be honest, I am not sure what [the captors’] expectations are.

“We do not know how to express this more clearly. We need Gerco here with us. He is a father, a husband, a son and a brother. He is a man that takes his responsibilities to his family very seriously.

“Let him go so that he can come back to us.”

GET THE NEWS at your fingertips and download the News24 app for Android here now. Get it for your iPhone here.

KEEP UPDATED on the latest news by subscribing to our FREE newsletter.

– FOLLOW News24 on Twitter

President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed confidence in the ANC’s North West Interim Provincial Committee (IPC), calling on the team to “turn the situation around” in the province.

The National Working Committee, led by Ramaphosa, met with the IPC, at the Rustenburg Civic Centre on Saturday.

This was to inaugurate the IPC following the dissolution of the Provincial Interim Task Team, which was installed following the dissolution of the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC).

ANC secretary general Ace Magashule said Ramaphosa asked the IPC to “rebuild, renew and unite the ANC”.

“He called on each member of the IPC to work extremely hard to ensure that ANC branches are strengthened and vibrant. He further called on the IPC to focus on service delivery to transform the lives of the people in the province.”

In February, it emerged that Ramaphosa had taken it upon himself to help bring about unity and stability in the embattled province by being part of a rapid response team.

ANC acting spokesperson Dakota Legoete said at the time that Ramaphosa would be able to use his experience as a skilled negotiator and mediator to bring about stability.

At the end of last month, the ANC’s National Executive Committee resolved to disband the PEC.

City Press reported that this was because of deep divisions that impacted on governance.

The IPC is expected to appoint a Provincial Working Committee and is tasked with convening a provincial conference in nine months.

Ramaphosa said the NEC would be deployed to all municipalities in to address the poor performance of some of them.

GET THE NEWS at your fingertips and download the News24 app for Android here now. Get it for your iPhone here.

KEEP UPDATED on the latest news by subscribing to our FREE newsletter.

– FOLLOW News24 on Twitter

Rees claimed that his articles had been edited and had been different to the final draft that left the inbox of his then-direct editor, Rob Rose, hours before it went to print. 

Rees said he looked forward to the Sanef panel into media and state capture.

Van Loggerenberg told News24 he has accepted Rees’ apology.

“He sent me a personal apology. I have accepted his apology,” he said.

READ: NPA head to review prosecution of SARS ‘Sunday Evenings’ trio

Van Loggerenberg, Ivan Pillay and Andries Janse van Rensburg are expected to appear in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on October 14.

The three former SARS employees face charges relating to “Project Sunday Evenings”, an endeavour that allegedly involved the installation of covert cameras and microphones at the now dismantled Scorpions and NPA’s head offices in Silverton, Pretoria, in 2007. 

The apology by Malcolm Rees to Johan van Loggerenberg. (Supplied) 

Reports of the bugging incident first emerged as part of a series of stories by the Sunday Times on the so-called “rogue unit” that operated at SARS between 2007 and 2014. The newspaper has since retracted and apologised for the reports.

The installation of the hidden cameras, which were remotely accessible, were conducted by now suspended SARS employee Helgard Lombard who is a state witness in the case against his former bosses. 

Pillay and Van Loggerenberg are accused by the NPA of “unauthorised gratification by a party to an employment relationship” for allegedly allowing Lombard to “keep” R100 000 from the installation project. 

Lombard, who has been on suspension since 2015, was paid R900 000 to install the cameras, and a further R250 000 for providing encrypted cellphones to members of the Scorpions, News24 understands.

The Scorpions’ secret fund, known as the C-Fund, was used to pay Lombard for the work.

GET THE NEWS at your fingertips and download the News24 app for Android here now. Get it for your iPhone here.

KEEP UPDATED on the latest news by subscribing to our FREE newsletter.

– FOLLOW News24 on Twitter