Publish Date: 2020-07-07
Category: Assets and Liabilities
Statement of Assets and Liabilites
Attachments:
Link full article: June 2020
Category Archives: South African News
News24.com | JUST IN | All private preschools may open immediately, court rules
A general view of children and adults at Delft South Primary School standing in line to collect literacy books, sandwiches, oranges and apples.
Brenton Geach, Gallo Images
- The Gauteng High Court has ruled in favour of early childhood development centres reopening immediately.
- The decision to keep nursery schools closed under Level 3 of the lockdown was declared unlawful and unconstitutional.
- A costs order was also handed down by the court.
All private preschools and early childhood development centres may open with immediate effect, if they can do so safely, the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has ruled.
LIVE | All the latest coronavirus and lockdown updates
The case had been brought by trade union Solidarity’s Occupational Guild for Social Workers and their School Support Centre (SCC) against the Department of Social Development regarding the reopening of private nursery schools.
Judge Hans Fabricius on Monday ordered that all private preschool institutions offering early childhood development services (Grade R and lower) are entitled to reopen immediately.
Fabricius declared a decision by the Department of Social Development that private nursery schools remain closed under Level 3 of the coronavirus lockdown unlawful and unconstitutional.
He ordered Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu, the first respondent, to pay the costs of all the applicants.
Fabricius said Zulu’s conduct fell short of what could be expected in “proceedings concerning young and vulnerable children”, and expressed his “strong disapproval”.
More to follow.
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News24.com | VBS bank heist: Eighth suspect Phillip Truter intends pleading guilty to all charges – state
Former VBS CFO, Phillip Truter
Canny Maphanga
- The eighth suspect in the VBS saga, senior executive Phillip Truter has appeared in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court.
- He was in quarantine when the seven co-accused were arrested weeks back and granted R100 000 bail each.
- He was granted bail of R50 000 and will be admitted to a mental health facility.
The eighth suspect in the VBS Mutual Bank fraud case, Phillip Truter, appeared in the Commercial Crimes Court on Monday, with the State indicating he intends pleading guilty to all the charges.
Truter, the former VBS chief financial officer, was granted bail of R50 000. The Commercial Crimes Court was sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court.
Prosecutor Hein van der Merwe told the court that the State was in plea negotiations with Truter, indicating the accused intended to plead guilty to all the charges.
Truter was also expected to be admitted into Vista Clinic on Monday afternoon – pending his Covid-19 test results – as his psychological condition had deteriorated over the past few weeks, the court heard.
READ | ‘We must bow out with pride’ – VBS boss Tshifhiwa Matodzi
This comes after he was arrested on Friday by the serious corruption investigation team, Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale said.
The man could not appear with his co-accused on 18 June as he was in quarantine for Covid-19.
“The suspect who could not be arrested a few weeks ago has recovered from his ailment and is expected to appear in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Monday, facing 47 charges of fraud, theft, money laundering, corruption and racketeering,” Mogale said.
READ | VBS Bank: 8th
arrest made as senior exec due in court after quarantine
News24 previously reported that his co-accused each pleaded not guilty to
the multiple charges they face.
They were also subsequently granted R100 000 bail each and are due back in
court on 8 October 2020.
Among the accused are former VBS chairperson Tshifhiwa Matodzi, who was
described as the alleged “kingpin” of the looting scheme, VBS CEO
Andile Ramavhunga, former VBS treasurer Phophi Mukhodobwane, and former
non-executive VBS board members, Ernest Nesane and Paul Magula.
In addition, former KPMG engagement partner Sipho Malaba, and Phalaphala Avhashoni
Ramikosi, the former chief financial officer of the South African Police
Service, are also part of the group of accused, News24 reported.
The matter was postponed for further investigations.
Truter will be back in the Palm Ridge Magistrates Court along with his
co-accused on 8 October 2020.
News24.com | WATCH | ‘A human being treated like a pig’ – Bheki Cele during visit to Bulelani Qolani
- Police Minister Bheki Cele visited Bulelani Qolani, who was evicted from his house while taking a bath earlier this week.
- The minister will launch an investigation into the matter.
- Residents of Khayelitsha don’t want an investigation – instead they want the law enforcement officers arrested.
Police Minister Bheki Cele visited Bulelani Qolani in Khayelitsha on Saturday morning, and listened to the concerns of residents.
This was after Cape Town law enforcement officers evicted local residents earlier this week, including Qolani, who was evicted while taking a bath.
A video of the incident went viral on social media.
It showed a naked Qolani in a scuffle with authorities as he tried to regain access to his home.
Addressing the community, Cele said he was appalled by the way the City of Cape Town’s officials handled the situation.
“A human being treated like a pig. That is what we saw happening here, and we cannot allow that to happen,” he said.
Cele said he met with Alderman JP Smith and other senior City officials in February to discuss the legitimacy of policing structures in the metro.
“We believe that these structures are illegitimate and the only thing these structures do is cause havoc,” Cele said.
The minister said he has video evidence of a similar incident involving Cape Town law enforcement from 2018. The footage shows the officers pulling a half-naked woman by her hair, as they evicted her from her informal structure. This incident will also form part of the investigation.
Cele was adamant the City of Cape Town cannot investigate the matter, and that the Western Cape police commissioner will be handling the investigation.
“We will be continuing the case and an investigation will be set up,” he said.
But talk of an independent police investigation wasn’t what the community wanted to hear.
Alex Madikane has lost two homes in City demolitions – one in March, and another last week when he was evicted for a second time. The father of five was not impressed by the minister’s address.
“The minister’s visit didn’t have any impact. He didn’t deliver on what I wanted,” Madikane said.
“If there was someone that delivered the eviction order last week, they have to be arrested; not investigated,” he explained.
Madikane said he feels the minister just came to the community to talk, but that he can’t commit to his promises.
Another resident, Nomalugelo, told News24 that what happened earlier in the week was very humiliating.
“Yoh, it was very, very bad what happened to our brother. It really humiliated our people,” she said.
The Khayelitsha resident said authorities didn’t act appropriately.
“The City of Cape Town is not doing well. When the people put up houses, they must not beat the people,” she explained.
“We want the minister to arrest the people that did this,” she added.
News24.com | More than 2 000 Covid-19 patients fill Gauteng hospitals
A doctor in protective gear prepares her equipment before testing a patient for Covid-19.
Moeketsi Mamane
- As of 3 July, 2 232 patients in Gauteng have been hospitalised due to Covid-19.
- As of 1 July, there were 644 patients in ICU and high care wards in Gauteng.
- To date, Gauteng has recorded a total of 54 311 confirmed cases of Covid-19.
As Covid-19 cases continue to increase in Gauteng, as of 3 July, a total of 2 232 patients are currently hospitalised in both private and public facilities in the province.
In the province’s daily breakdown of the Covid-19 numbers on Friday, Gauteng had a total of 54 331 confirmed cases of the virus.
Of the total confirmed cases, there have been 15 935 recoveries and 282 deaths.
According to the Gauteng provincial coronavirus command council, as of 1 July, there were 644 patients in intensive care units (ICU) or high care units in public and private hospitals in Gauteng.
READ | Covid-19: Who gets priority in the trauma unit? Gauteng health MEC says ‘clinicians will decide’
The report further said that 151 of those patients are currently ventilated, while a further 493 patients are on oxygen.
Cumulatively, 4 455 patients were admitted to Gauteng hospitals for Covid-19 since the pandemic reached South Africa’s shores.
On Thursday, News24 reported that Gauteng’s command council said there were 8 301 beds available specifically for Covid-19 patients in private and public hospitals.
The 8 301 available beds include paediatric beds, ICU/high care beds, and general beds.
Additional beds are also being created in public hospitals in the province.
A total of 1 575 beds, which will include 900 intensive care unit beds, are expected to be ready by the end of July.
Of the number of confirmed cases of the virus in Gauteng, 26 293 cases have been recorded in Johannesburg, 11 827 in Ekurhuleni and 8 662 in Tshwane.
READ | Covid-19: ‘It’ll be overcrowded in hospitals’ – Gauteng MEC predicts 300 000 cases by end of August
In Sedibeng, there were 2 154 cases of the virus, while 3 379 cases have been confirmed in the West Rand.
A total of 2 016 cases have not yet been allocated.
Western Cape
Meanwhile, in the Western Cape, another province severely affected by the virus, as of 4 July, a total of 1 887 patients have been hospitalised.
Of the total number of patients currently hospitalised for Covid-19, 328 are in ICU and high care wards.
The Western Cape, which is the worst-affected province to date, has a total of 67 351 confirmed cases of the virus, as of Saturday.
Of these cases, the province has recorded 49 362 recoveries and 2 014 deaths.
Of the number of confirmed cases of the virus in the Western Cape, 48 096 have been recorded in Cape Town.
News24.com | Holy spirit? ‘Booze church’ finds lockdown rules hard to swallow
Gabola church leader Pope Tsietsi Makiti.
Chris Moagi
- The Gabola church, where congregants drink alcohol, has continued to hold gatherings after lockdown regulations relaxed.
- They have been moving services from place to place to avoid run-ins with the authorities.
- The country allows 50 worshippers to attend services, as per easing of regulations.
When South Africa began easing its coronavirus lockdown in May, it allowed religious worshippers to gather in groups of up to 50, but maintained a ban on people assembling to drink alcohol.
That’s a problem for the Gabola church – the name means ‘drinking’ in the local Tswana language – for whom a tipple is an integral part of their religious worship.
Founded just two years ago, the church tried to hold its usual meetings in local bars, or shebeens, to praise God while downing whisky, but they soon got arrested, its leader and self-styled “pope” Tsietsi Makiti, 55, told Reuters.
READ | Covid-19: Another hard lockdown is possible, warns Mkhize
“They can arrest us until Jesus comes back,” said Makiti, wearing a bishop’s mitre with a miniature bottle of spirits hanging from it.
But he added they had been moving services from place to place to avoid a run-in with the authorities.
On Sunday, worshippers met in a rubbish-strewn field in Evaton, south of Johannesburg. As the service started, the “clergy” blessed some beer bottles in prayer.
Bottles
“At Gabola church you (bring)… the liquor of your choice… and the pastor will bless the liquor so that it will not be poisonous to your body,” Makiti said.
Wearing flowing black robes and coloured scarves, Makiti and five “clergymen” – none of them who are ordained – sit before a table strewn with empty bottles of alcohol.
Makiti’s sermon included such proclamations as: “We are a church that will remake the world.”
“People call me a drunkard,” said one worshipper, Nthabiseng Kotope, 38, who added that she joined the church in March.
“I agree with them. I do God’s work while drinking.”
Apart from the ban on alcohol, the congregants observe all other coronavirus rules, including the limit of 50 people, the spacing out of chairs and use of hand sanitisers.
While some Protestant sects teach that alcohol is sinful and to be avoided, most mainstream Christian churches are not opposed to moderate drinking, citing such Biblical stories as Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding feast.
News24.com | WRAP | ‘Covid-19 drug’ sells out, fight for cigarettes continues
The Covid-19 death toll has hit 2 952, while the number of cases now sits at 177 124.
The total number of recoveries is now 86 296 – a recovery rate of 48.7%.
Here’s what made the headlines today
Demand for the Covid-19 drug dexamethasone appears to be on the rise, with producers of the medication having cleared its stock. Fresenuis Kabi, a German pharmaceutical company which manufactures in the Eastern Cape, has sold out all its stock. Another manufacturer, Aspen, has run out of stock. The medication has been hailed as a breakthrough, and the health department has begun administering it to some Covid-19 patients.
As Gauteng prepares for a Covid-19 storm, some 1 600 residents in hotspot areas in Johannesburg are due to be relocated. The City will move people from wards 108 and 109 to safer places.
The National Health Laboratory Service has fired Gibela Trade and Invest, a courier company, after it had lost samples of Covid-19 tests in transit while travelling on the N2 in the Eastern Cape. The company was said to have behaved negligently.
As schools prepare to welcome more grades, there has been pushback in KwaZulu-Natal, whose provincial education department is not allowing the return of Grade R pupils on Monday. On Thursday, the government announced that Grades R, 6 and 11 will be allowed back from next week.
Meanwhile, an independent schools body has written to President Cyril Ramaphosa asking to allow all pupils to return to its member schools. The body says it has devised a plan for this kind of reintroduction, including physical distancing measures and temperature screenings.
The cigarette war continues, with tobacco association Fair Trade Independent Association lodging an application for leave to appeal a court ruling which dismissed its challenege to overturn the government’s ban on the sale of tobacco.
Stay informed with News24
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– Compiled by Kerushun Pillay
South African Reserve Bank imposes administrative sanctions
Publish Date: 2020-07-03
Category: Media Releases
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Attachments:
Link full article: South African Reserve Bank imposes administrative sanctions
Notice of Exemption from certain provisions of the Insurance Act, Act No. 18 of 2017 – Sanlam Developing Markets
Publish Date: 2020-07-02
Category: PA Post Insurance Act Notices
Attachments:
Link full article: Notice of Exemption from certain provisions of the Insurance Act, Act No. 18 of 2017 – Sanlam Developing Markets
News24.com | JUST IN: 50 families homeless after shacks gutted by fire in abandoned building in Alexandra
(Jaco Marais, Gallo Images, Netwerk24, file)
- Fifty shacks were gutted in Alexandra on Thursday.
- The shacks destroyed were inside and outside an old building.
- The cause of the fire is being investigated.
Fifty families in Alexandra have been left homeless after their shacks were gutted in a fire on Thursday.
Johannesburg emergency medical services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said they responded to the fire, inside an abandoned building in the township.
On their arrival, firefighters found 50 shacks on fire.
Maludzi said 30 of the shacks were inside the building while 20 others were outside.
The cause of fire is unknown and they are investigating.
More to follow.