Daily news update: July unrest instigators, Zandile Mafe case, and Hillary Gardee 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.

Daily news update – 13 August 2022

July unrest: 21 alleged instigators granted R3,000 bail

Twenty-one people accused of being the instigators of the July unrest last year were granted bail of R3 000 each at the Durban Central Magistrates’ Court on Friday. The trial was adjourned to 26 August.

The suspects were told they can’t leave KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) without permission from the case’s investigating officer. They were also warned not to incite any violence related to the case.

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) on Thursday announced it had arrested 20 suspects for allegedly instigating the violence and looting that swept across KZN and Gauteng in July 2021.

Parliament arson: Hearing postponed as pyjama clad Zandile Mafe refuses to appear in court

The pre-trial hearing for alleged Parliament arsonist, Zandile Christmas Mafe, has been postponed to 2 September after he refused to appear in court.

Mafe was scheduled to make his first appearance at the Western Cape High Court on Friday.

The court, however, heard that Mafe was lying on the floor in the holding cell still in his pyjamas and refused to make his appearance.

Fourth suspect arrested in connection with Hillary Gardee’s murder

The South African Police Service (SAPS) in Mpumalanga has confirmed the arrest of a fourth suspect in connection with the murder of Hillary Gardee.

Mpumalanga police commissioner Lieutenant-General Semakaleng Manamela said the police had been looking for the suspect for some time and he was finally arrested in Gauteng on Thursday night.

According to Manamela, the suspect confessed to the murder of Gardee.

ANC North West elective conference to proceed on Saturday, to be opened by Mabuza

Deputy president of the African National Congress (ANC) David Mabuza is expected to officially open the party’s North West elective conference on Saturday morning.

There were doubts this week about whether the conference, which is expected to be hotly contested, would actually go ahead as planned this weekend, due to outstanding branch matters. These, however, appear to have been resolved.

‘Don’t be too quick to blame Eskom’ – Ramaphosa urges Sedibeng residents amid power outages

President Cyril Ramaphosa spent Friday morning listening to service delivery-related concerns by residents of the Sedibeng District Municipality.

Some residents have been without electricity for more than a year now, owing to exploded transformers due to an overloaded electricity network, in many cases as a result of ‘illegal connections’.

It was not surprising when residents raised this as the biggest problem pertaining to service delivery challenges.

Cosatu leads march against youth unemployment to Union buildings

The Congress of South African Trade Union (COSATU) marched to the Union Building in Pretoria, demanding government’s urgent intervention on unemployment, rising costs of living, the energy crisis and fuel hikes on Friday.

The demonstrators met at 9:00 at an open space in Kgosi Mampuru Street and Madiba Street in Pretoria Central, before leading the march to the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa in Tshwane on international youth day.

TikTok announces ‘TikTok Viral Song of the Year’ category in Samas

TikTok has announced its first-ever ‘TikTok Viral Song of the Year’ category in the 28th South Africa Music Awards (SAMA28).

The short video sharing platform said this category is aimed at recognising and celebrating local songs and artists that have dominated the platform in South Africa, this past year.

TikTok said this inevitable partnership comes as no surprise as the platform’s role in the music industry has become evident in shooting songs to fame or bringing modern virality to old songs, over the years.

PICTURES: Boks buzzing ahead of All Blacks clash at Ellis Park

Joburg was buzzing with excitement on Friday, a day out from the Rugby Championship clash between the Springboks and All Blacks at Ellis Park.

The build-up to the Test at a sold-out Ellis Park has been characterised by plenty of talk about the Boks’ aerial game, following Kurt-Lee Arendse’s red card incident in Mbombela last Saturday, the pressure All Blacks boss Ian Foster is under ahead off the game and the changes that have been made to the sides for the big match, including Joseph Dweba coming into the Bok starting team in place of Bongi Mbonambi.