Durban – An international crew of 30 fishermen were rescued from a burning Taiwanese vessel off the Durban coast on Tuesday, the SA Maritime Safety Authority has said.

Crew members from the Hsiang Fuh no.6 were rescued after the Maritime Rescue Co-ordinating Centre in Cape Town (MRCC CT) was notified that a container ship, the Ever Diadem, spotted the burning vessel about 10km from its position. 

The crew had already abandoned ship on two life rafts about 736km east-north-east of Durban and 496km from the closest shore.

The vessel apparently caught fire on Sunday off the coast of Madagascar. The survivors were brought to Durban on Tuesday.

Samsa said after the MRCC CT requested the Ever Diadem to recover the survivors, an urgent mayday message was sent to other vessels to assist. Two bulk carriers, the Hampton Bay and the SBI Antares, came to their aid.

Sixteen crew members were picked up by the Ever Diadem while the other 14 were picked up by the SBI Antares. Some of the survivors had suffered slight burns. However, one of the men, a Filipino, had to be evacuated by helicopter after he suffered second and third-degree burns to 40% of his body.

A 63-year-old Chinese survivor was also treated for soft tissue injuries to his right knee. 

Both were hoisted to the helicopter by the paramedics with the Filipino being in a stable but serious condition and the Chinese sailor in a stable condition. 

BEIRUT, Lebanon- Islamic State group chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was reported dead on Tuesday, a day after Iraq declared it had driven the jihadists from their one-time biggest stronghold of Mosul.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a longtime monitor of the country’s conflict, said it had information from top IS leaders confirming Baghdadi’s death.

The report could not be independently verified and Baghdadi has been reported dead several times.

But if confirmed, his death would mark another devastating blow to the jihadist group after its loss of Mosul, which Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Monday had been retaken from IS after a gruelling months-long campaign.

“Top tier commanders from IS who are present in Deir Ezzor province have confirmed the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, emir of the Islamic State group, to the Observatory,” the Britain-based monitoring group’s director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

“We learned of it today but we do not know when he died or how.”

Deir Ezzor, in eastern Syria, remains largely under IS control even as the group is losing territory elsewhere in the country and in neighbouring Iraq.

Abdel Rahman said Baghdadi “was present in eastern parts of Deir Ezzor province” in recent months, but it was unclear if he died in the area or elsewhere.

There was no official confirmation or denial of the news on social media platforms used by IS.

Persistent rumours of death

The US-led coalition fighting the jihadist group in Syria and Iraq said it could not verify the Observatory’s information.

“We cannot confirm this report, but hope it is true,” said coalition spokesman Colonel Ryan Dillon.

“We strongly advise ISIS to implement a strong line of succession, it will be needed,” he added, using a different acronym for IS.

Asked if the coalition had a process underway to examine such claims, Dillon said: “We have professionals who use all information at their disposal to verify reports before we would confirm any allegations.”

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday tweeted “Big wins against ISIS!”

It was not immediately clear if that was a reference to the Mosul recapture, Baghdadi’s reported death, or both.

There have been persistent rumours of Baghdadi’s death in recent months, and Russia’s army said in mid-June that it was seeking to verify whether it had killed the IS chief in a May air strike in Syria.

The US-led coalition said at the time it could not confirm whether the Russian strike had killed Baghdadi.

With a $25 million US bounty on his head, Baghdadi has kept a low profile and was rumoured to move regularly throughout IS-held territory in the area straddling Iraq and Syria.

The 46-year-old Iraqi-born leader of IS has not been seen since making his only known public appearance as “caliph” in 2014 at the Grand Mosque of Al-Nuri in Mosul.

IS destroyed the highly symbolic site before Iraqi forces could reach it as they pushed the jihadist group from Mosul.

Iraqi forces launched their campaign in October to retake Mosul, which was seized by the jihadists during the mid-2014 offensive that saw them take control of large parts of Iraq and Syria.

Abadi announced in Mosul on Monday that the campaign had ended with the defeat of IS in the city, hailing “a victory over darkness, a victory over brutality and terrorism”.

Devastation in Mosul

The cost of victory has been enormous: much of Mosul in ruins, thousands dead and wounded and nearly half the city’s population forced from their homes.

In Mosul’s Old City, where buildings lie crumbling and burned-out cars and other debris choke the streets, security forces were still searching for remaining IS fighters.

“What we are doing today is just combing the area and clearing it of sleeper cells,” Staff Lieutenant General Sami al-Aridhi, a senior commander in Iraq’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), said Tuesday.

IN PICTURES: Iraq’s Mosul ‘liberated’ from IS

“There are groups that are hiding in shelters,” but they surrender or are killed, Aridhi said.

Since the Mosul operation began in October, 920,000 people have fled their homes, only a fraction of whom have returned, according to the United Nations.

Rights group Amnesty International on Tuesday accused Iraqi forces and the US-led coalition of exposing civilians to “relentless and unlawful attacks” in west Mosul.

“Pro-government forces launched barrages of indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks using explosive weapons unsuitable for such a densely populated urban area,” Amnesty said.

AFP

Johannesburg – The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) may decide at the end of July whether or not it will prosecute anyone over allegedly corrupt contracts worth billions of rands awarded by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa).

The NPA has told News24 that its Specialised Commercial Crime Unit (SCCU) has received more than 60 lever arch files from the Hawks relating to criminal probes into Prasa’s R3.5bn contract for the supply of new locomotives and contracts worth R4bn for security-related products and services.

“Prosecutors were directed to furnish the head of [the] SCCU with a report by the end of July on whether the investigation is complete and a decision if so,” said NPA spokesperson Luvuyo Mfaku.

“To provide any information on potential suspects or charges would be highly irregular and a violation of the rights of potential suspects,” added Mfaku. 

The locomotives contract, awarded to Swifambo Rail Leasing in 2012, was recently reviewed and set aside by the High court in Johannesburg.

Judge EJ Francis’ scathing judgment highlighted the fundamentally corrupt nature of the contract awarded to Swifambo, a little-known company that was found to have maintained a “criminal” fronting relationship with the Spanish manufacturer of the locomotives.

Mfaku said the NPA will take the judgment into consideration.

“The NPA has noted the judgment of the High Court in the Prasa matter.

“The Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) in Johannesburg is working closely with criminal investigators from the Hawks and prosecutors from the SCCU in respect of the Prasa investigation and the judgment will be a factor to be considered in the ongoing investigations, which may lead to the recovery of any losses,” Mfaku said.

Siyangena Technologies

Apart from the Swifambo tender, the NPA was also busy deciding on possible prosecution over contracts worth R4bn awarded between 2011 and 2014 to technology firm Siyangena Technologies. 

Rapport has previously revealed that Lucky Montana, Prasa’s erstwhile CEO, bought properties worth R25m in cash transactions that were facilitated by a lawyer linked to Siyangena Technologies

Montana and Riaan van der Walt, the lawyer in question, have repeatedly denied that their “business relationship” was in any way linked to the contracts Siyangena secured from Prasa.

Asked about the latest developments in the NPA’s possible prosecution in relation to the Swifambo and Siyangena contracts, Auswell Mashaba and Pragason Subba Reddy, the two companies’ respective managing directors, said that they were not aware of any new developments.

* Do you have information for our investigative journalists? Send an e-mail to tips@24.com

JOHANNESBURG – The African National Congress (ANC) wants its five-year policy review amended to happen every 10 years.

Chairperson of the party’s subcommittee on education and health, Naledi Pandor, on Monday said most delegates at the national policy conference held in Johannesburg last week endorsed the proposed policies.

READ: ANC policy conference: deeper polarisation and a stalemate for South Africa 

“We had a recommendation that the ANC needs to look at its policy cycle, we recommended that the ANC consider a 10-year policy review period instead of the present five,” Pandor told reporters in Johannesburg during a report back on her commission’s discussions.

She said it was proposed that there should be regular monitoring of policy implementation within five years and then overall review only after 10 years. The governing party, Pandor added, should improve its monitoring and evaluation functions, including roping in its branch members to monitor services in local communities.

“It was agreed to encourage all ANC branches to establish subcommittees in both health and education, because it was our view that we do not have enough structures on the ground. It is important to have people in branches who are aware of, for example, whether there is a clinic in the area or not, whether it’s well staffed and serves the community.”

The commission also proposed that health have a stand alone subcommittee, separated from education, due to the urgency of implementation of the National Health Insurance (NHI). Pandor said the pilot project on NHI has been completed and that the committee expected a report within two months.

READ: The ANC Policy Conference. A lot of Heat. No Light 

“But we need the health professionals to make sure this momentous task is successful, we’re losing highly skilled professionals to the private sector,” she said.

On education, the commission agreed that communities should be encouraged to have an interest in science. The commission further proposed that a framework model for free higher education be developed to determine who qualifies for free education.

Furthermore, the commission said it would await the Heher commission’s report on the feasibility of free higher education. The Heher commission was appointed by President Jacob Zuma as students’ demand for free education grew across the country’s university campuses over the past couple of years.

Pandor said the education and health commission could not report back to media at last week’s conference due to time constraints. The proposals would be submitted to ANC branches for further inputs ahead of the elective conference in December.

African News Agency

JOHANNESBURG – President Jacob Zuma was asked to step down by the African National Congress’s integrity commission, but he refused, saying only he could “stop the West from capturing the ANC”, the City Press reported on Sunday.

This defence was outlined in a report, written by the commission and addressed to secretary general Gwede Mantashe, following meetings between Zuma and the commission in December and April, the newspaper reported.

The six-page report was signed by ANC stalwart and Rivonia Trialist Andrew Mlangeni in his capacity as the commission’s chairman.

It was dated May 21, a week before the last sitting of the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) took place in which Zuma survived yet another attempt to have him removed through a proposal to table a motion of no confidence in him. This was the second such attempt in the space of seven months.

WATCH: Zuma speaks on ANC NPC outcomes

Following calls to the integrity commission for Zuma to be brought to book, he met its members and, according to the report, was said to have refused to resign, City Press reported.

“The president stated emphatically that he would not resign. He believed that to do so would be a betrayal of our people and of our revolution,” the report reads.

“The essence of the president’s refusal to resign is his belief that there exists a conspiracy by Western governments to oust him as president of the ANC and of the country. Their objective is to replace him in order to capture the ANC.”

READ: Zuma no confidence debate moved to 8 August

The integrity commission rejected this explanation, saying it made light of the crisis in the governing party, City Press reported.

“The integrity commission does not agree with the president’s explanation. It does not accept the notion that opposition to the president can be attributed solely to a Western conspiracy. This explanation ignores the very real problems in the ANC, as evidenced by the rapid decline in support for the ANC,” the report reads.

African News Agency