CAPE TOWN – Top ANC officials will no longer be attending events leading to the build-up of the Nelson Mandela centenary launch and will instead hold an urgent meeting this weekend.

They were expected to conduct a walkabout in various areas in Cape Town.

Sources tell eNCA top ANC officials have been called into an urgent meeting with President Jacob Zuma.

Details of the meeting remain sketchy.

An ANC Western Cape provincial secretary province said the schedule changes related to the party’s push to force Zuma to stand down.

“We all know and anticipate that they are dealing with the current issue that is facing our country,” Faiez Jacobs said.

The walkabouts are continuing with NEC members.

Meanwhile, South Africans are still waiting for news about President Jacob Zuma’s future.

He is widely expected to either step down or be forced out of office.

READ: Mthembu rubbishes reports Zuma will resign on Saturday

Zuma seems to be staying out of the public eye.

The Ubuntu Awards he was meant to officiate has been postponed.

Government says the annual event has been postponed because it’s linked to the State of the Nation Address.

At the same time, the ANC has announced that party President Cyril Ramaphosa won’t be speaking at any party events in the run-up to the anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.

– Additional reporting Reuters

eNCA

Cape Town – Controversial businessman Mark Lifman has been arrested and is in custody for allegedly pointing a firearm in an incident which happened in March 2017, but his lawyer says police have acted illegally.

On Wednesday night lawyer William Booth confirmed to News24 that Lifman was in custody.

“He was illegally arrested… There was no warrant for his arrest,” he said.

Booth, who was trying to secure bail for his client, said Lifman was arrested at Cape Town International Airport on Wednesday after arriving from overseas.

He said the incident Lifman was taken into custody for allegedly happened in March 2017, yet the complaint was lodged with police in January 2018.

Booth also said he had lodged a complaint against police for an “illegal raid” conducted at Lifman’s home which happened towards the end of last year.

It is understood the pointing of a firearm complaint was lodged against Lifman by a figure involved in the nightclub security industry.

Intelligence operation

On Wednesday night Western Cape police issued a statement on a 50-year-old Sea Point resident’s arrest. They did not name the suspect taken into custody.

Police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk said the man was arrested during an intelligence driven operation carried out by organised crime detectives.

Van Wyk said the suspect was arrested at the airport just before 16:00 after landing on a flight from Johannesburg.

“He was arrested on charges of alleged intimidation and pointing of a firearm relating to an incident in Parow in March 2017,” he said.

The suspect, Van Wyk said, was expected in the Parow Magistrate’s Court once formally charged.

Lifman has recently been named several times during the bail application of suspected underworld kingpin Nafiz Modack.

Among claims against Lifman was that he controlled certain police officers.

READ: Mark Lifman controls the police, attorney alleges in court

Modack is accused of extortion and intimidation alongside Carl Lakay, Ashley Fields, Colin Booysen – suspected Sexy Boys gang boss Jerome Booysen’s brother and Jacques Cronje.

They face charges relating to the nightclub security industry in that they allegedly took over security operations at clubs and restaurants, forcing owners to pay them.

For a detailed breakdown on what has been happening in the underworld nightclub security takeover, see News24’s showcase Underworld Unmasked

The group was arrested on December 15 and shortly afterwards lodged an application to be released on bail. 

During this application, it has emerged that Modack and Lifman are part of rival factions involved in trying to dominate nightclub security.

The bail application centering around Modack is expected to continue on Monday.  

CAPE TOWN – The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) on Wednesday called for the shutdown of mines belonging to Sibanye-Stillwater, saying that it was “extremely worried” by the death of two mineworkers who were trapped underground at Sibanye’s Kloof gold mine after a rock fall.

Sibanye confirmed that two workers died at the Ikamva 4 Shaft at the mine southwest of Johannesburg after an accident in the early hours of Wednesday.

UPDATE: Two dead at West Rand gold mine

The death of the workers came just a week after more than 1,100 miners were trapped underground at Beatrix gold mine in the Free State province, after a power outage at the mine caused by a severe storm in the area. They were all brought to surface safely after two nights underground.

“We find it very unacceptable that the accident in Beatrix did not prompt the company to pay more attention to issues of health and safety,” Nehawu general secretary Zola Saphetha said in a statement.

“The national union calls for legislation that penalises companies that fail to put mechanisms in place to prevent the loss of lives in mines. The maximisation of profit must never at all material times supersede the wellness of workers. In this regard, we support the call by Cosatu for a total shutdown of all operations by Sibanye-Stillwater in the country with immediate effect.”

Operations at the Kloof mine have been halted until an investigation by the Department of Mineral Resources is completed.

Saphetha said that Nehawu would be meeting with its sister union the National Union of Mineworkers very soon with a view to organising a march against the minister of mineral resources. He said minister Mosebenzi Zwane was not ensuring that mining companies complied with safety standards.

African News Agency

Johannesburg – The allegation that President Jacob Zuma wishes to fire Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and replace him with Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is “preposterous and outrageous”, the Presidency said on Tuesday evening.

“The allegations are completely baseless. The allegations of ethnic mobilisation by the president are equally without foundation,” said Presidency spokesperson Bongani Ngqulunga.

Earlier on Tuesday evening, the SACP called on Zuma to deny or confirm “credible” information that he planned to fire Ramaphosa and replace him with the former African Union Commission chair.

READ: There will be no SONA until Zuma resigns – EFF

The party said Zuma’s conduct was “reckless and unacceptable”.

“Dlamini-Zuma was President Zuma’s preferred presidential candidate for the 54th ANC national [elective] conference held in December 2017.

“To that extent, it would be very clear that President Zuma is also determined to divide and destroy the ANC through unrepentant factional conduct,” it said.  

The SACP reiterated its call for Zuma to resign and for the ANC to recall him if he refused to step down.