Tuesday 21 September - DAILY NEWS SUMMARY
The Citizen (www.citizen.co.za) Page 1/3 – Voters set to snub polls
Page 2 – Mayor died on the ‘killer highway’
Page 4 – Public facilities go green Page 5 – Securing SA’s railways
Pretoria News (www.pretorianews.co.za) Page 1 – Prepare to make your mark
Page 2 – Rail agency not liable for passenger’s fall The Star (www.iol.co.za)
IEC registers another 32 new political parties ahead of local government elections Soweto power protests continue
US travel ban to be lifted, allowing vaccinated South Africans entry from November Bathabile Dlamini perjury case postponed to October
Business Day (www.businesslive.co.za)
SA is becoming a constitutional dictatorship, says Jacob Zuma DNG Energy’s court case sets back power production plans 연합뉴스 (www.yonhapnews.co.kr)
남아공 보호종 펭귄 64 마리 떼죽음…벌떼에 쏘인 듯
Voters set to snub polls
ANALYST: ‘IT IS HIGHLY LIKELY WE ARE GOING TO COME IN MUCH LIGHTER THAN EXPECTED’
• The Citizen (Gauteng)
• 21 Sep 2021
• Marizka Coetzer marizkac@citizen.co.za
With the voters’ roll 650 00 people lighter than in 2019, according to an election analyst, and millions who are eligible to vote not having registered, a dismal turnout for upcoming local government elections looks likely.
First-time voter says he simply couldn’t be bothered.
The 2021 municipal elections are shaping up to be one with the smallest voter turnout in the country’s history. According to the Electoral
Commission of SA (IEC) yesterday, 433 198 first-time voters registered this past weekend, while voters who were reregistering numbered 1 277 811, making for “1.7 million voters registered during the special two-day registration weekend”.
Independent election analyst Dawie Scholtz said after the last elections in 2019 and before the registrations opened over the weekend, the voters’ roll had shrunk by roughly 1.1 million people.
Scholtz added it was completely normal for it to shrink as people die and others emigrate.
“We were at minus 1.1 million before the weekend. When IEC talks about the 1.7 million registrations, they are also referring to everyone who went to
change their details, so that’s not new additions, it is just changing the location. New additions to the voting roll were only about 430 000,” Scholtz said.
He said if one did the maths, the IEC was down 1.1. million, up 430 000 which meant they were down by a net 650 000 voters.
“That’s very bad and unprecedented because the voters’ roll always goes up,” he said.
Scholtz added the IEC usually registered between one and two million new voters for each election.
“This is not changes of addresses, but actual new voters. It is highly likely that we are going to come in much lighter than we expected,” Scholtz said.
KwaZulu-Natal was the province with the highest registration activity with 358 384 applications, followed by Gauteng with 315 282 applications and the Eastern Cape with 240 514 applications.
Dezi Vermaak from Pretoria north said she was definitely casting her vote in November.
“I just don’t know who to vote for any more,” Vermaak said.
“Everyone just brings empty promises, especially ahead of the elections.
“Afterwards, those promises are not delivered on.”
Vermaak said she voted for the Democratic Alliance last time, but wasn’t sure this time around.
“If you drive into our area, all you see is a road full of potholes, water leaks and you name it,” she said.
Jan Msiza, a car guard in Pretoria, said he was voting in hopes to get a better job.
“I live on the street and watch cars for days to make money for food,” Msiza said.
He said he was ready to cast his vote and already knew who he was voting for.
“I am hoping to get work and a decent place to live,” Mzisa added.
This year would have been Kyro Anderson from Colbyn’s first time to cast his vote, but the young man said he wouldn’t be doing so.
“Politics is just a game the government plays to obtain power over the people,” Anderson said.
“I get the feeling my vote doesn’t matter anyway.”
Zodwa Nkambule, who sells baskets on a Pretoria East street corner, said she was excited to cast her vote.
“I am voting for change. When I vote I can voice and complain about service delivery,” Nkambule said.
She said she already knew who she was voting for.
“You vote because you are a citizen and you want to build your community,”
Nkambule said.
Dr Piet Croucamp, political studies and international relations at North- West University, said the IEC fell well short of expectations.
“I suspect they did not reach close to the figures,” he said.
Croucamp said out there were millions of unregistered potential voters.
“One has to compare it with the number of potential new voters,”
Croucamp said.
“At this stage, all indications are that the registration figures are very low.
“They are not comparable to previous years,” he said.
“We must remember that there are more people in SA who do not vote than those who vote,” Croucamp said.
He said high unemployment, poverty and dependence on grants created a type of political discouragement which caused people’s participation to decrease.
“The signs are clearly there,” Croucamp said.
– There are more people in SA who do not vote than those who vote.
Dr Piet Croucamp
Political studies, international relations at NWU
Mayor died on the ‘killer highway’
Countless lives – mostly pedestrians – have been lost on the road, says JMPD.
• The Citizen (Gauteng)
• 21 Sep 2021
• Sipho Mabena siphom@citizen.co.za
P icture: P Ncg:lP ScbandaDANGER. A warning sign along the Golden Highway, about 200m from where Johannesburg mayor Jolidee Matongo’s vehicle collided with a bakkie which was allegedly trying to avoid a pedestrian.
Countless lives – mostly pedestrians – have been lost on the road, says JMPD.
Johannesburg mayor Jolidee Matongo is one in a list of many victims
claimed by the Golden Highway, which has marked the deadliest part of the road with a “High Accident Zone” sign.
“A week hardly passes without a fatal accident here,” said Chris Adams, a father of three, who operates a hawking stall across the road where
Matongo died.
“On Sunday I got off a taxi around 6am and there was a horrific accident. It was chaos... people were being airlifted to hospital and emergency services workers were freeing victims trapped in the wreckage.”
Adams said when he arrived at the carnage, he was not even aware that Joburg’s first citizen had died nearby the previous evening.
“I was in the Northern Cape visiting family, so I had no idea what had happened.
“It was from people on the roadside that I learnt of the mayor’s fatal crash.
This road is dangerous and I know it,” he said.
Adams said most of the victims were pedestrians crossing the road, adding that the biggest
Last year 3 children died in a head-on collision problem was intoxicated people.
When The Citizen visited the crash scene yesterday afternoon, both sides of the road were teeming with pedestrians crossing dangerously.
The Citizen photographer Nigel Sibanda almost ran over a pedestrian who appeared from nowhere but had to be avoided in a split of a second as he wandered across the road.
“There are alcohol outlets on both sides of the road.
“People just stumble on the road and that is the biggest problem,” Adams said.
Chester Nkosi, who works in a nearby scrap dealership, said it has become a norm to hear a loud crash and people streaming to see what happened.
He said earlier this year, a woman and two children were mowed down by a truck as they waited to cross the road.
“This road is dangerous. Many people have died here, especially pedestrians. Most accidents are caused by pedestrians and speeding motorists. That is the problem.”
According to authorities, Matongo’s BMW X5 was avoiding hitting a pedestrian and swerved into oncoming traffic where it collided head-on with a Nissan NP200 bakkie on Saturday evening.
The mayor was heading home after an ANC door-to-door election campaign with President Cyril Ramaphosa in Soweto.
The 23-year-old Lenasia motorist who collided with Matongo’s vehicle has since died, with the mayor’s driver and bodyguard seriously injured in the crash near Lenasia South.
What The Citizen team observed on the stretch of the highway is that there are at least two road signs identifying that particular stretch as a “high accident zone”.
One of the signs is about 200m from where the accident happened and the second about one kilometre away, where a mother and two children were apparently knocked down early this year.
Where the fatal crash occurred, there is a foot path on both sides of the road, showing that it is a makeshift pedestrian crossing and, for at least one
kilometre, there is no sign showing the speed limit of 60km/h.
Johannesburg Metro Police Department spokesperson Wayne Minnaar, confirmed that the stretch of the road where the accident happened had claimed countless of lives before – mostly pedestrians.
“It is an accident prone road. Last year three children died in a head-on collision…” he said.
“We lost an officer in 2017 [on the road]. There have been accidents and we can confirm that mostly it is pedestrians, particularly at night.”
–
Public facilities go green
IT’S OFFICIAL: INTEGRATED RENEWABLE ENERGY PROGRAMME TO START
• The Citizen (Gauteng)
• 21 Sep 2021
• Asanda Matlhare – asandam@citizen.co.za
Request for information is aimed at testing market for additional ideas.
With recent studies showing the department of public works and infrastructure as the largest property portfolio responsible for annual
electricity and water consumption of an estimated 4 021 gigawatt hours and 39 million kilolitres, Minister Patricia de Lille gave the go-ahead for the Integrated Renewable Energy and Resource Efficiency Programme (iREREP) to commence.
De Lille said: “The Request for Information (RFI) for the iREREP is aimed at testing the market for additional ideas and information which
comprehensively looks at ways to deliver mutual value through strong partnerships across government and the private sector.”
She added that the programme would be the largest involved in the procurement of renewable energy and resource efficiency for public facilities.
“The department, as the largest landlord and facilities manager in the country, has a responsibility to not only deliver and manage quality
infrastructure, but to combat climate change through its mandate; such as providing buildings for government service delivery,” she said.
“The iREREP project over 30 years aims to achieve savings and revenue of over R401 billion by 2050 which can be reallocated to other government priorities; over R253 billion direct contributions to the GDP; 3 800 new small businesses will be developed, the majority being black-owned, and skills development opportunities for more than 117 000 people.”
Chief director of property management operations in the department Nkosana Kubeka said the project was in the pilot phase which focused on clusters of buildings, but a full roll-out would target different buildings.
“We are currently engaging provinces and local municipalities to make sure the facilities are included.
“We will be packaging the request for a proposal and will issue the details in terms of the number of facilities later.”
Head of infrastructure and investment in the presidency Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said the project was part of the aggregate contribution towards the interventions as articulated by President Cyril Ramaphosa in the
economic reconstruction and recovery plan.
“One of the interventions requires us to unlock R1 trillion of private sector investments over a period of four years.
“This presents a pristine opportunity for public and private sector to partner in addressing the issues around inefficient design of public assets.
“This will also contribute towards our nationally determined contributions and net zero emissions as Cabinet committed to a green transition which will also be part of what South Africa will be taking to Conference of the Parties 26,” he said.
The minister said the programme received National Treasury approval for phase one.
It was registered to be implemented in collaboration with the private sector.
The private sector would be fully responsible for both the technical and financing aspects of implementing the programme.
The RFI will be open for 30 days.
The request for proposals for the programme is expected to take place in January next year.
Over 30 years it aims to achieve savings of R401bn
Securing SA’s railways
VANDALISM: ESTIMATED R76M OF DAMAGE
• The Citizen (Gauteng)
• 21 Sep 2021
• Reitumetse Makwea reitumetsem@citizen.co.za
icture: P N:clP MtCaeun:yDERELICT. The remains of the Cleveland train station yesterday.
Transport system already constrained.
It is months since The Citizen highlighted the extreme damage to Gauteng railway infrastructure, with thieves stealing everything from cables to
bricks, handrails and doors, and making off with almost anything that could be ripped out or cut down – and nothing has changed.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng shadow MEC for roads and transport Fred Nel said it was estimated Metrorail Gauteng had lost more than R76 million to theft and vandalism of train stations.
However, “we think it is actually much more, it could actually be billions, because of the extent of the damage and the fact that only a few lines are currently operational”, he said.
“The vandalism of trains in our province is putting additional pressure on our already constrained transport system, while also placing an additional financial burden on our commuters who use trains on a daily basis to and from work.”
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) was unable to comment yesterday.
According to the Railway Safety Regulator’s acting chief executive Tshepo Kgare, the recent annual State of Safety Report showed an increase of 8% in the total number of security-related incidents when compared to the
previous reporting period.
“This is as a result of the open network and lack of security... The staggering numbers in the report reflect that more needs to be done to ensure that our commuters feel safe,” she said.
“There is a need to increase security in the railways before they become defunct. The railways are an asset which is both a business and a service, it renders the most critically needed means of transport for ordinary people.
“Just a year ago, a train crash outside Pretoria claimed the lives of three people while 600 fellow passengers were left injured. As it turned out, cable theft was a contributory cause to the accident.”
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has announced that the department of transport budget would increase at an average annual rate of 8.1% over the next three years, from R55.9 billion in 2020-21 to R74.5 billion in 2023-24.
A substantial share of the expenditure will be directed towards rail
infrastructure, maintenance, operations and inventories, as well as security.
Nel said according to the Gauteng MEC for transport and road infrastructure Jacob Mamabolo, 4 000 additional security guards would be deployed
nationally by Prasa this month. –
PREPARE TO MAKE YOUR MARK
Young females in the majority registered over weekend to vote in November 1 local elections
• Pretoria News
• 21 Sep 2021
• ZINTLE MAHLATI AND MAYIBONGWE MAQHINA
THE Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has deemed this past weekend’s registration drive a success, with the bulk of newly registered voters being young people.
IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said a clear pattern was evident over the registration weekend, with most new voters being young and female.
The IEC was giving feedback on the registration weekend that took place on September 18 and 19 to vote in the local elections on November 1.
Mamabolo said 91% (402 401) of those who registered to vote were between the ages of 16 and 29.
The gender demographic breakdown recorded that 52% of those who
registered were women. Of the total new registered voters, most were from KwaZulu-Natal (358 384). Gauteng registered 315 282 with the Eastern Cape 240 514.
The voter registration weekend began with a few glitches with the IEC’s online registration system.
Some voting stations also reported complaints relating to the voter capturing equipment.
Mamabolo said the glitches had been corrected. He also indicated that back- up servers had been brought in to help cushion the volume experienced online.
The voters’ roll was sealed following a proclamation of the elections by the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.
This legal step has allowed for amended steps to the IEC’s timetable. The candidate nomination process would close at 5pm today, Mamabolo said.
A special voting application process could also be made from yesterday until October 4 at 5pm.
Mamabolo has encouraged the use of special voting to allow for fewer people at voting stations on November 1. Special voting will take place on October 30 and 31.
Other steps to the elections timetable include a certification of the voters’
roll on September 26. Candidate nomination certificates will be issued by October 1.
On the Constitutional Court ruling, Mamabolo said the IEC welcomed the ruling issued yesterday, which affirmed that the IEC was legally sound in its decision to reopen the candidate nomination process following
amendments to its elections timetable.
IEC commissioner Janet Love said: “We respect what the court has decided and accepted that this was what should guide us for the future.”
On the question of bias towards the ANC, Mamabolo said the evidence
before the court put the argument to rest. “On the evidence before the court, there is no basis to come to a conclusion of bias. The commission makes decisions rooted in the electoral law. We would not make the decision on account of populist antics,” Mamabolo said.
Meanwhile, the weekend voter registration displayed a general rejection of some parties and some level of intolerance as voters were encouraged register for the elections.
This was the view shared by two political analysts when they assessed the mood among voters at the weekend.
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa was on Saturday met with a hostile reception in Soweto’s Nomzamo township – and a silent protest in Mbombela.
DA leader John Steenhuisen was asked to explain the dilapidated
infrastructure in Cape Town’s townships during media interviews and EFF leader Julius Malema had to contend with ANC members blocking him from visiting voting stations in Pietermaritzburg.
Political analyst Zakhele Ndlovu said yesterday that what transpired with the ANC was an indication that there were communities that were openly unhappy with the governing party.
“That shows that our democracy is starting to mature. People are no longer giving the ANC a blank cheque,” he said.
However, Ndlovu said the intolerance towards the EFF was a terrible indictment of the ANC, and it was not to the first time it had happened in KwaZulu-Natal.
“It also shows that our voters are generally not well educated about the kind of democracy we live in,” he said.
Professor Sipho Seepe said there was an expression of disillusionment, anger and protest by voters at the weekend.
“When you have a president of the country going to a place and people make it difficult for him to address them, they are sending a message that you are not our leader.
“They were clear that he is coming again to make promises. Our people are saying come the elections, they will remember,” Seepe said.
He also said that some people had stopped others from campaigning, and that the EFF was even harassed on the ground.
“It is unfortunate, but it could be saying you are no different from any other parties that are campaigning. It could also be thuggish elements from other parties not wanting others to campaign,” he said.
SEE PAGE 4
Rail agency not liable for passenger’s fall
• Pretoria News
• 21 Sep 2021
• ZELDA VENTER zelda.venter@inl.co.za PROSTHETICS GIFTED LITTLE HERO
A COMMUTER’S claim that negligence by the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) caused him to fall from a moving train shortly before it reached a station was dismissed by the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria yesterday. The incident occurred in July 2017. Justice Zihor told the court he fell from the train while it was approaching the platform at Kopanong station in
Soshanguve. As a result, he broke three bones in his left leg.
He said he had a valid ticket and was travelling from Mabopane to Pretoria.
Before the train reached Kopanong, he said, some passengers from the back coaches of the train came through to the coach he was in. As a result of the pressure from these passengers, he was pushed through an open door of the coach and fell out before the train reached the platform.
He testified that he fell on top of a concrete slab alongside the railway tracks.
According to Zihor, the train had no doors and windows, or straps to hold on to. He did not remember what happened after he fell and only woke up in hospital the following day.
Zihor said that when he fell from the train, there were a number of people, including passengers on the train, who saw him fall, but he could not identify anyone.
He claimed that he had boarded the train around lunch time, but it only departed at around 3pm.
He told the court that Prasa was negligent because it had failed to maintain the train and ensure the safety of its passengers.
However, paramedics said Zihor was fully conscious when they arrived at the scene, and spoke to them.
According to the paramedics, the incident happened at night, as they were only called to the scene after 8pm. They found Zihor lying on the ground next to the tracks.
They testified that they could at first not locate the injured man at the station, but later found him some distance away.
Zihor had claimed he was pushed out at the platform of the station as the other commuters tried to rush out of the doors.
A Prasa security officer told the court that after the fall, Zihor told him that he had boarded the train at Mabopane station. When he realised that it was not going to stop at Kopanong, he opened the doors while the train was in motion and decided to jump off.
Judge Nomonde Mngqibisa-Thusi found that given the time of the fall, when the emergency services were called to the scene, Zihor could not have been on the train he claimed he was on.
Further, he was on a non-passenger train, which did not stop at any of the stations it passed on its journey.
The judge said Zihor was an unimpressive witness, particularly when taking into account inconsistencies in his evidence.
He could not explain how he boarded the train at around 2pm, yet the fall only happened later that night.
She accepted Prasa’s version that he illegally boarded a non-passenger train that evening, and when he realised it did not stop where he wanted to
disembark, he simply jumped off.
IEC registers another 32 new political parties ahead of local government elections
By Loyiso Sidimba 1h ago
THE Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) has registered over two dozen new political parties in just over a month between August and September, ahead of the local government elections in November.
The 32 parties were registered between August 4 and September 16, according to the IEC’s general notice published in the Government Gazette on Tuesday.
All but four have registered to contest the municipal polls, while the others have enrolled to challenge for power nationally.
Some of the newly-registered political parties which are vying for power in the hotly- contested municipalities are the Mandela Bay Community Movement in the Eastern Cape, and the Metsimaholo Progressive People’s Forum in the Free State.
Metsimaholo is the municipality that voted for a mayor from the SA Communist Party after forming a coalition with the ANC, the Metsimaholo Community Association, the Forum for Service Delivery and the African Independent Congress in 2017.
Another new party is the Bushbuckridge Locals Movement, which has been registered to contest nationally.
Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga produced the Bushbuckridge Residents’ Association (BRA), now known as the Better Residents’ Association, and whose disgruntled members recently formed the SA Home Residents’ Association.
The BRA was formed by former ANC members in the area in 2011, and won seats in the Mpumalanga provincial legislature and the local municipality.
According to the IEC statistics, there are 1 181 political parties registered to contest elections at local government level, but not all of them will field candidates for the November 1 polls.
The deadline for the nomination of candidates to contest the municipal elections is 5pm on Tuesday in terms of the IEC’s amended election timetable, after the re-opening of the registration process.
The commission will publish the final list of candidates next Wednesday.
Soweto power protests continue
By Sonri Naidoo 2h ago
Johannesburg – Protests against Eskom have resumed in Soweto, with angry residents blocking roads with burning tyres and rocks, as the electricity billing crisis continued.
The protest started along the Soweto highway, with angry residents blocking entrances and exists in Dobsonville.
They said their Eskom bills were increasing even though they have been using prepaid electricity.
Seth Mazibuko, the founder of the Orlando Action Committee, said they had been without electricity for more than two months.
“Illegal connections are becoming a lucrative business in Soweto. Residents are finding it cheaper to pay R350 to connect their electricity than to pay their high electricity bill to Eskom.
“Earlier today, a child was taken to the ICU because she needed oxygen and they did not have electricity in their home,” he said.
“Eskom needs to come and engage with the residents to understand the grief we are battling with and find a way to solve the unending electricity issues.”
Mazibuko said residents would not back down until their cries had been heard, and that water and electricity continued to be the biggest service delivery issue in the
community.
Joburg Environment and Infrastructure Services MMC Mpho Moerane held a “successful”
meeting with the residents of Soweto yesterday to address the challenges of electricity supply in the area.
This was Moerane’s second visit in three days to Naledi, Chiawelo, Nomzamo informal settlement, Thokoza Park, Rockville, and the surrounding areas.
“The City of Joburg and Eskom are to conclude and sign a memorandum of
understanding which states that the city will take over assets worth about R4.7 billion and debt worth about R7bn.
“The CoJ is to take over all the consumer debt and assets from Eskom as part of the takeover agreement and to have separate engagements with the National Treasury on takeover debt. Eskom is to immediately begin a process to replace all faulty mini-subs (substations) in and around Soweto, and switch on all the affected customers,” said Moerane.
The city has been gearing itself to take over electricity distribution from Eskom for Soweto by the end of September 2021.
Moerane said substantial investments are currently being made by the city to address the current emergency in electricity supply and for the normalisation of the credit management processes, whereby only individual defaulting customers would be engaged, and not through the current blanket switch-off.
The protest later progressed to the nearest bus depot yesterday morning, blocking the road to Rea Vaya buses, forcing commuters to find alternate means to get to work and school.
The bus company took to its social media accounts to update passengers about the situation.
“The situation remains the same in Soweto, Rea Vaya buses are still diverted.
“Rea Vaya advises passengers that buses are unable to operate as protesters have blocked the entrance and exit points of the Dobsonville depot. We apologise for the inconvenience and will provide feedback,” read the bus service tweet.
An hour later, after the first update, it added: “The situation has not changed, and buses will not operate this morning. Passengers are advised to look for alternative transport.”
US travel ban to be lifted, allowing vaccinated South
Africans entry from November
By Kelly Jane Turner 3h ago
White House Coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said during a media briefing on Monday that non-citizens visiting the US will be required to show proof of
vaccination and a negative Covid test taken within three days of departure.
Travellers will not be required to quarantine upon arrival.
Reuters reported that Zients said the details of the policy are still being decided and that the exact date in early November will be released.
“We will protect Americans here at home and enhance the safety of international travel,” he said.
According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a person is considered fully vaccinated with any FDA-authorised vaccines or any of the vaccines the World Health organisation (WHO) has authorised.
The current restrictions have barred travellers from most of the world from entering the US.
The new rules will lift the bans on entry for foreigners who’ve been in certain regions, such as the UK and EU, within the previous two weeks.
Since the start of the pandemic, the US has recorded over 42 million infections and 677 000 Coronavirus-related deaths.
Over 55% of the country’s population has been fully vaccinated.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a press conference on Monday that the its CDC would be involved with contact tracing.
“The CDC is going to issue a contact tracing order that will require airlines to collect comprehensive contact information for every passenger coming to the United States and to provide that information promptly to the CDC, upon request, to follow up with travellers who have been exposed to Covid-19 variants or other pathogens. And these requirements will apply globally,” she said.
Bathabile Dlamini perjury case postponed to October
Former social development minister allegedly lied to conceal the extent of her involvement in social grants payments fiasco
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Former social development minister and ANC Women's League president Bathabile Dlamini. Picture: EUGENE COETZEE
Former social development minister and ANC Women’s League president Bathabile Dlamini appeared in the Johannesburg magistrate’s court on Tuesday on a charge of perjury.
The case was postponed to October 1 to allow for docket disclosure by the defence, National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Mthunzi Mhanga said.
Dlamini allegedly gave false evidence under oath at an inquiry instituted by the Constitutional Court in 2018 into the payments fiasco at the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa).
The matter relates to repeated extensions of an unlawful tender awarded to Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) to distribute the department’s social grants.
The court was forced to extend the contract with CPS even though it had been found to be illegal.
The inquiry, chaired by Judge Bernard Ngoepe, found Dlamini concealed the extent of her involvement in the debacle and she was ordered to pay personal costs of about R650,000, which she settled in May.
The Constitutional Court ordered Ngoepe’s report to be forwarded to the national director of public prosecutions to consider whether Dlamini had lied under oath and should be prosecuted for perjury.
SA is becoming a constitutional dictatorship, says Jacob Zuma
Former president says the constitution is being manipulated to specifically deal with him
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Former president Jacob Zuma. Picture: SANDILE NDLOVU
Former president Jacob Zuma says SA is moving from a democracy to a constitutional dictatorship.
In a statement released by the Jacob Zuma Foundation on Monday evening, Zuma lamented the decision to dismiss his application to have his jail
sentence scrapped. He accused the court of changing its own rules.
“The Constitutional Court in this case somehow found it fitting to deviate from its own rules and it was again another case of the laws and the
constitution being bent and manipulated to specifically deal with Zuma,” he said in the statement.
The apex court threw out the former president’s rescission application on Friday. Zuma had asked the court to set aside his 15-month contempt of court jail sentence, which was handed down in June after he failed to comply with its order to appear before the state capture commission.
His legal team announced on Saturday that it would go the uncommon route of taking the fight to the African Court on Human and People’s Rights.
Taking a jab at the judiciary, Zuma said: “It has never happened that in a dissenting decision of the Constitutional Court that the dissenting judges go as far as accusing their colleagues of acting unconstitutionally.
“It is a very sad day in our history to observe how those we have entrusted with the constitution now consider themselves above the constitution. It is my constitutional right to publicly critique judges the same way they have a right to critique me as a politician.”
DNG Energy’s court case sets back power production plans
Three of the seven preferred bidders chosen to provide power by August 2022 say banks are refusing to sign off on the projects until the court case is complete
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Electricity pylons in Mpumalanga. Picture: REUTERS/SIPHIWE SIBEKO
A court case filed by a losing bidder in SA’s emergency power programme threatens to delay the provision of the electricity by months, as banks balk at providing funding because of the risk of an adverse judgment.
Officials at three of the seven preferred bidders selected to provide power by August 2022 said the lenders were refusing to sign off on the projects until the court case was complete. They asked not to be identified because the talks are confidential.
Earlier in September, the case filed in the High Court by DNG Energy, which alleges corruption by government officials, was postponed until November 30. The deadline for financial close of the projects proposed by the seven preferred bidders has been set at September 30 by the government, already a delay from an initial July 31 requirement.
The delays mean there will be little imminent relief from load-shedding imposed by Eskom. The outages have hindered the performance of the SA economy and damaged investor confidence since 2005.
In addition to Turkey’s Karpowership, which secured about 60% of the contracts to provide 2,000MW of electricity, the winning groups include
some of the world’s leading energy companies. TotalEnergies, Electricite de France, Scatec and ACWA Power are all involved.
DNG has, in its court documents, demanded that it replace Karpowership as a preferred bidder and had earlier attempted to have all the other bidders interdicted from reaching financial close. It later dropped the second demand.
Absa, Investec and the Development Bank of Southern Africa were interested in backing Karpowership’s bid, a person familiar with the situation told
Bloomberg in May. The other bidders attracted a number of different financial backers.
“We are supporting the programme and are committed to funding several projects,” Nedbank, SA’s fifth-biggest lender by market value, said in response to queries. The bank is unsure whether the court case will affect the ability of Eskom and the government to enter into agreements with the preferred bidders, it said.
Investec said it supports the emergency power programme, without
commenting further. Rand Merchant Bank declined to comment and DBSA and Absa didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
One of the bidders said that depending on when the judgment on the case is made, and assuming it doesn’t derail the programme, financial close could be reached by February or March and power produced by the end of 2022.
DNG, in a response to queries, said it did not believe its court case was slowing down the programme because there were no legal impediments to stop the bidders from achieving financial close. It also said there were other challenges to some of the projects other than the court case.
“All we want is an honest tender process and a level playing field,” DNG said.
“The department of mineral resources and energy had an opportunity to ensure this was done from the outset, and we could already have been moving ahead to build the new power stations the country desperately needs.”
남아공 보호종 펭귄 64마리 떼죽음…벌떼에 쏘인 듯
송고시간 2021-09-21 20:28 김성진 기자기자 페이지
남아공 케이프타운 사이먼스타운의 펭귄 떼
(사이먼스타운=연합뉴스) 김성진 특파원 = 지난 6 월 21 일 남아프리카공화국 케이프타운 인근 사이먼스타운의 볼더스 비치에 펭귄들이 노닐고 있다. 2021.9.21 sungjin@yna.co.kr (요하네스버그=연합뉴스) 김성진 특파원 = 남아프리카공화국 케이프타운 인근 해변에 사는 보호종 아프리카 펭귄 64 마리가 벌떼에 쏘여 떼죽음을 당한 것으로 보인다고 dpa 통신 등이 20 일(현지시간) 보도했다.
펭귄들은 지난 17 일 케이프타운 남쪽의 유명 관광지 사이먼스타운에 있는 볼더스 해변에서 죽은 채로 발견됐다. 근처에서 죽은 벌들도 다수 발견됐다.
부검 결과 일부 펭귄은 20 방 이상의 벌침을 맞은 것으로 알려졌다. 다만, 독성 및 병원균 검사 결과는 아직 나오지 않았다.
동물 보호 전문가는 최고 27 회나 쏘인 펭귄을 봤다면서, 이 정도 크기의 조류가 여러 방의 벌침을 맞으면 치명적일 수 있다고 말했다.
남아공 케이프타운 사이먼스타운의 펭귄 떼
(사이먼스타운=연합뉴스) 김성진 특파원 = 지난 6 월 21 일 남아프리카공화국 케이프타운 인근 사이먼스타운의 볼더스 비치에 펭귄들이 모여 있다. 2021.9.21 sungjin@yna.co.kr 당국은 벌의 공격을 촉발한 원인을 파악하기 위해 주변에서 벌집을 찾고 있다.
일반적으로 펭귄과 벌들은 공존하는 것으로 알려졌는데, 알려지지 않은 이유로 벌집에 충격이 가해진 것이 벌떼의 공격을 유발한 것으로 추정된다. 벌들은 도발을 받지 않으면 쏘지 않는다.
아프리카 펭귄은 남부 아프리카 해안과 섬에 서식하고 있으며 멸종 위험 때문에 국제적인 자연보호종으로 지정돼 있다.
