Category Archives: South African News

News24.com | Motorists warned of ‘significant snowfall’ in Eastern, Western Cape

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Cape Town – The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) on Saturday alerted drivers in the Western and Eastern Cape to watch out for “significant snowfall”, as a cold front brings freezing weather in its wake.

The SA Weather Service has warned of snowfall over high lying areas of the Western Cape interior, southern parts of the Northern Cape, and parts of the Eastern Cape on Sunday.

“The public and small stock farmers are advised that very cold conditions and snowfalls can be expected,” it said in a statement on Saturday morning.

The cold front would also bring rain to the Cape Metropole and the Overberg, with the possibility of localised urban flooding.

The RTMC said motorists should be wary of travelling over high passes, especially in the Eastern Cape this weekend. 

“Snowfalls are expected over the high lying areas of the [Eastern Cape] with disruptive snowfalls expected over the Sneeuberg and Winterberg,” the corporation said in a statement.

It has warned that Penhoek Pass on the N6, between the towns of Jamestown and Sterkstroom, and the Lootsberg Pass on the N9 north of Graaff Reinet could be affected by heavy snowfalls.

Snow Report SA, a community-based snow tracking website, said that it could start snowing on Western Cape Mountains ranges from Saturday night.

“Many high lying regions, such as Matroosberg, (could) possibly get 30cm of snow or more.”

The Northern Cape towns of Sutherland, Fraserburg and Calvinia could also expect to get some snow this weekend.

“Throughout Sunday and into the early hours of Monday morning we will see snow over large parts of the Eastern Cape including Graaff-Reinet, Hogsback, Dordrecht, Barkly East, Lady Grey, Rhodes and more.”

eNCA | Mbeki on HIV

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JOHANNESBURG – Thabo Mbeki explained his approach to HIV-AIDS during an interview with the chairman of radio station Power 98.7, Given Mkhari, on Thursday night.

Mbeki was slammed during his presidency for policies that denied thousands of HIV-positive South Africans access to treatment with antiretrovirals (ARVs).

He still believed that more than medical treatment was needed to treat the virus.

WATCH NEXT: In conversation with Thabo Mbeki

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News24.com | ANC condemns shooting of three KZN party councillors

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Durban – The ANC has condemned the shooting of three of its councillors, including former ANC Youth League secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa, in Umzimkhulu, south of KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday night.

Magaqa, Umzimkhulu’s Ward 11 councillor Nonsikelelo Mafa and Ward 16 councillor Jabu Mzizi were returning from an ANC regional meeting when they were shot. They are currently in hospital.

Umzimkhulu falls under the party’s Harry Gwala Region, which is going to its regional conference soon.

Three ANC councillors were shot dead between April and May this year in the same region.

ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa told News24 on Friday that “the act was barbaric”.

“We condemn the act in [the] strongest possible way. Law enforcement agencies, especially the police must do everything to bring the perpetrators to book,” he said.

He said they were worried about the continuous killing of political leaders in KZN.

‘Police and law enforcement agencies must act’

“The killing of public representatives in the form of councillors undermines people’s confidence in a democratic system, where you elect leaders and they get assassinated. Something must be urgently done to bring an end to political killings,” he said.

Asked whether the ANC has a plan to curb the continuous shootings of its councillors in the province, Kodwa said: “It’s not an ANC plan because it’s an act of criminality. Police and law enforcement agencies must act,” he said.

ANCYL KZN secretary Thanduxolo Sabelo confirmed that the three are still in hospital and said they have no doubt that the shooting is politically motivated.

“We view these shootings and killings as senseless, brutal and barbaric. We call upon the government to deploy police in the region,” he said.

On the recent killings in the same region, he said police must conduct a full investigation into the killings and apprehend perpetrators and “those who planned the killings”.

Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi confirmed the shooting of the three councillors.

“We are still investigating. Information is still sketchy as we still have to take statements from the victims who are still in hospital,” he said.

News24.com | Farmer arrested for shooting girl, 11, in the arm

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Pretoria – North West police on Thursday arrested the 33-year-old owner of a farm near Swartruggens after he allegedly shot an 11-year-old girl in the arm.

According to an initial police investigation, the girl and some friends wanted to collect firewood on the farm on Wednesday, Netwerk24 reported.

The farm owner shouted at them to stop, said police spokesperson Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone.

“The girls apparently ran in different directions and the 11-year-old realised that her left arm was bleeding.”

It is not clear what weapon was used in the shooting.

Her mother took her to hospital.

The girl’s parents informed the police and the owner of the farm handed himself over to police on Thursday.

He will appear in the Swartruggens Magistrate’s Court soon on a charge of attempted murder.

eNCA | First picture of Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s twins

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LOS ANGELES – Beyoncé released the first picture of her one-month-old twins on Friday. 

In a post on Instagram, the singer is shown holding the babies and also confirmed their names.

Her girl is called “Rumi Carter” and her boy “Sir Carter,” ending the speculation. 

Earlier this month, the pop diva and her husband, the rapper Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, filed for the copyright of the names, ensuring no one else profits from the names to sell anything from fragrances to music.

Their filing with the US Patent and Trademark Office comes from an identical California address to an application for the name of the couple’s five-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy Carter.

Rumi is the name of the 13th-century Persian poet who endures as one of the best-loved writers of the Sufi spiritual tradition, with verses that celebrate love, joy and tolerance.

The choice of “Sir” is less obvious, although the two names raise speculation that both children are boys.

Within minutes of posting the photogram on Instagram, it trended on social media, with fans congratulating the singer. 

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News24.com | SACP explains how the Guptas ‘became Zuma’s tongue’

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Johannesburg – The “parasitic bourgeoisie” in the form of the Gupta family is the greatest threat facing the tripartite alliance and has contributed to its deterioration, the SACP said on Wednesday.

The Gupta family was a parasitic network which needed more urgent attention than monopoly capitalism as it posed the greatest threat to the national democratic revolution, SACP first deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila said at the party’s 14th congress. He was delivering a report on the state of the organisation.

“If we can’t deal with them we will not be able to deal with monopoly capital as a whole,” he said.

The SACP has repeatedly voiced its disapproval of the Gupta family, which has close ties to President Jacob Zuma. It allegedly influenced appointments to Cabinet and to the boards of state-owned enterprises in order to benefit its business interests.

Taking an example from biology, he provided an analogy in which the Gupta family was the parasite cymothoa exigua, or tongue-eating louse, and Zuma its host, a fish.

He explained that the parasite enters the fish through the gills, settles on its tongue and sucks its blood until the tongue atrophies and falls off. It then becomes the fish’s tongue and the two need one another to survive.

“The fight against the parasite is extremely important for the communist party.”

If they could not get hold of it, they would deal with the fish itself, he said.

He repeated the SACP’s call for Zuma to go. His protracted stay at the helm was exacerbating the movement’s problems.

Providing some insight into the friction within the tripartite alliance, he told delegates that the SACP and ANC had not had any meetings since the communists called for Zuma to be removed as president. Trade union federation Cosatu received the same treatment from the ANC when it made similar calls.

The congress ends on Saturday.

Also read: Nzimande re-elected SACP General Secretary

News24.com | Former Brazilian President sentenced to 9 and a half years for corruption

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Rio de Janeiro — Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was convicted of corruption and money laundering on Wednesday, the most high-profile conviction yet in a sweeping graft investigation that has jailed dozens of the Latin American country’s elite.

Federal Judge Sergio Moro sentenced Silva to nine and half years in jail, but the former leader will remain free while an appeal is heard.

The decision was widely expected, even by Silva’s own defence team, but is still stunning: The charismatic leader left office with sky-high popularity and is credited with pulling millions of Brazilians out of poverty and turning Latin America’s largest nation and South Africa’s BRICS partner into an important player on the world stage.

In many quarters in Brazil, the man known simply as Lula remains revered — both for his economic policies and his role in fighting for democracy during the country’s dictatorship — and the 71-year-old is a front-runner for next year’s presidential elections.

The case is part of a massive corruption investigation centred on state-run oil giant Petrobras that has led to the conviction of dozens of business executives and politicians.

Silva was accused of receiving a beachfront apartment and repairs to the property as kickbacks from construction company OAS. Prosecutors also alleged OAS paid to store Silva’s belongings, but Moro dismissed that part of the case.

The judge ordered that the apartment be confiscated.

The former president has said the charges are completely unfounded, and his defiant testimony in the case was billed as a showdown between himself and Moro. Both men are seen as national heroes by some parts of Brazilian society.

“The present conviction does not bring this judge any personal satisfaction. Quite the contrary, it is regrettable that a former president be criminally convicted,” Moro wrote in his decision. “It doesn’t matter how high you are, the law is still above you.”

Moro said he did not order Silva’s immediate arrest because the conviction of a president is such a serious matter that he felt an appeal should be heard first.

A former union leader who became the country’s first working class president, Silva served from 2003 to 2010.

The case will now be heard by a group of magistrates. If they uphold the conviction, Brazilian law says that Silva would be barred from seeking office. Moro also ruled that Silva should be barred from public office for 19 years.

The sentence by Moro – whose wide popularity in Brazil for his anti-corruption work has prompted some to see him as a possible presidential candidate – fed into broader political ructions in Brazil.

Impeachment

Lula’s chosen successor, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached and booted from office in 2016, with Michel Temer, her vice president, taking over the reins.

Two weeks ago, Moro sentenced an influential minister in the Lula and Rousseff governments, Antonio Palocci, to 12 years in prison for corruption.

Lawyers for Silva did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but the chairperson of his Workers’ Party dismissed the conviction.

“Judge Moro did what the media and the anti-Lula public opinion wanted,” said Gleisi Hoffmann. “This is an embarrassing conviction, without evidence.”

eNCA | Blade Nzimande re-elected SACP General Secretary unopposed

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JOHANNESBURG – The SACP has electing its new leadership.

Blade Nzimande has been re-elected unopposed. While his deputy, Jeremy Cronin, was unavailable for re-election.

Solly Mapaila has been elected as first deputy General Secretary.

Joyce Moloi-Moropa has been elected unopposed as national treasurer.

Senzeni Zokwana has been re-elected as National Chairperson.

eNCA’s Thulasizwe spoke to new First deputy General Secretary, Solly Mapaila to ask about rumours circulating that he had initially not wanted to put himself in the running for a position in the new leadership.

Earlier, Cyril Ramaphosa urged the party to stay within the alliance, saying they are stronger together.

He called on delegates to expose those implicated in state capture, saying money gained from state capture should be recouped.

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eNCA | WATCH: The battles shaping the State of Capture Inquiry

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JOHANNESBURG – Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is fighting President Jacob Zuma’s court bid to take control of an urgent judicial inquiry into state capture.

She says Zuma’s legal application has little prospect of success.

President Jacob Zuma has gone to court to fight former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s order that Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng – and not him – determine which judge will lead the State Capture inquiry.

Mkhwebane says Zuma’s deeply implicated in allegations of state capture, which means he shouldn’t decide how the inquiry must operate.

The inquiry will probe allegations that Zuma’s friends, the Gupta family, and his son, Duduzane have been controlling the appointments of certain Ministers and illegally benefiting from lucrative state contracts.

Mkwebane doesn’t want the President’s court challenge to delay the establishment of an inquiry.

President Zuma has a different take on the matter. He said in May this year : “Let me place it on record that there is no opposition from either the government or the Presidency to the calls for the commission into the said State Capture. What has caused a delay is the manner in which the former Public Protector directed the inquiry should be done, which infringes on the powers of the President.”

Madonsela urged Zuma to allow Mogoeng to initiate the State Capture inquiry – and to seek legal clarity on his powers in a separate application that would not cause any further delays.

“The President has a fork here around does he put emphasis on the academic issue of what are his powers? Or does he put emphasis on the real issue here: that currently we have a dysfunctional state,” Madonsela told eNCA’s Karyn Maughan last month. She spoke to eNCA’s Jeremy Maggs.

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