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Daily news update: AfriForum vs govt, court blow for judge Hlophe and advocate Teffo arrest
Here’s your morning news update: An easy-to-read selection of our top stories. Stay up to date with The Citizen – More News, Your Way.
(Photo by Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Deaan Vivier)
Here is your daily news update. Click on the links below for the full story or visit our home page for the latest news.
Daily news update 06 May
AfriForum takes legal action after government pushes through last minute Covid-19 rules
Lobby group AfriForum said it will be taking legal action against the government after the Health Department extended the deadline for public comment on draft regulations for Covid-19 rules by three months.
The Health Department pushed through the draft regulations late on Wednesday night.
The rules are meant to help government manage the pandemic going forward now that the national state of disaster has come to an end.
The proposed regulations were published in March and the public was only given a month to comment.
Health dept makes U-turn on mask requirements for school children
The Department of Health has made a sudden u-turn and described the blunder of mask-wearing by school children as a “regrettable human error” in a media statement issued on Thursday.
In the statement on Wednesday night, the department emphasised the importance of wearing a mask in public indoor places but exempted school children from this.
“With regards to wearing a face mask, a person must, when entering and being inside an indoor public place, wear a face mask. This does not apply to children at school,” reads the statement.
However, in the gazette, it is stated that all basic education institutions were exempt from complying with regulations related to indoor gatherings.
Hlophe impeachment battle: Court dismisses application to set aside JSC findings
Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe has suffered defeat in court relating to his legal battle against the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
Hlophe had filed a review application at the Johannesburg High Court, seeking to have the JSC’s gross misconduct findings against him set aside and that the matter goes back to the commission.
However, the JSC has come out victorious in the matter after the application was dismissed.
In the judgment handed down on Thursday, the high court also dismissed Hlophe’s request to order Parliament to convene a hearing on the impeachment.
NPA throws Saps under the bus over Teffo arrest
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) claims that Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for the Gauteng local division was not consulted and did not sanction the execution of the warrant of arrest against Advocate Malesela Teffo in court.
The NPA has clarified the details surrounding the high-profile arrest of Advocate Teffo.
Teffo, who is currently representing four suspects accused of murdering Orlando Pirates and Bafana Bafana soccer star Senzo Meyiwa, had just wrapped proceedings for the day when several heavily armed police officers clad in masks and black berets surrounded the cop-turned-lawyer and handcuffed him.
City of Tshwane phasing out ambulance services
The city of Tshwane has announced that it will be gradually phasing out its ambulance services due to provincialisation of the service.
The city has informed residents that the provincialisation of emergency medical services will take full effect from 16 May 2022.
The provincialisation of the Tshwane emergency medical services is likely to put pressure on Gauteng Emergency Medical Services.
Last year it was revealed that only 151 of Gauteng’s 257 ambulances were working.
City Power buckles under load shedding and rampant cable theft
Johannesburg power supplier, City Power said Eskom’s load shedding is putting a strain on its own network and resources, thus affecting its response time to local outages.
The local power utility warned that Joburg residents are in for a rough ride because the current rolling blackouts due to load shedding are going to exacerbate issues because it is still recovering from backlogs caused by the recent inclement weather and the persistent rains.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said its technical teams have been working tirelessly to resolve ongoing power supply issues in Eldorado Park, and they are now reaching a breaking point amid the rampant theft, vandalism, and equipment failure.
Police defend investigation of Hillary Gardee’s murder after criticism by EFF
The Mpumalanga police have defended the way they’ve conducted their investigation into the murder of Hillary Gardee, the daughter of former Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) secretary-general Godrich Gardee.
This comes after the EFF accused the police of gross incompetence on Wednesday.
The EFF’s national spokesperson Sinawo Tambo said police at the crime scene hadn’t noticed that Hillary had a bullet wound in the back of her head.
Tambo said the gunshot wound was only noticed by the forensic team afterwards.
