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Daily news update: SA top cop’s security clearance, load shedding, and EFF national shutdown
Here’s your morning news update: From Fannie Masemola to the EFF shutdown.
National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola during a parade for newly qualified Saps Special Task Force members. Picture: Neil McCartney / The Citizen
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: 19 March
SA’s police commissioner Fannie Masemola has no security clearance – report
Despite being South Africa’s top cop, General Fannie Masemola does not have the security clearance he needs.
Masemola was appointed as police commissioner in 2022.
According to News24, the country’s most senior police official was last vetted in 2014. The security clearance he received at the time expired in 2019.
The report states that Masemola tried to get his police clearance in 2019 but it wasn’t successful because he has debt.
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Load shedding downgraded to stage 1 as suspension for Sunday still in place
Eskom downgraded load shedding from stage 2 to stage 1 on Saturday, but caused confusion when it said the suspension of the rolling blackouts for Sunday and Tuesday would no longer be in place.
Later on Saturday, Eskom provided new information stating that load shedding will still be suspended on Sunday from 5am until 4pm.
“Eskom will provide an update on Sunday afternoon or as soon as any significant changes occur,” it said.
At this stage, there is no new update on the initial plan by Eskom to suspend load shedding on Tuesday as well.
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DA welcomes court ruling on EFF shutdown, despite failing to have it declared unlawful
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen on Saturday said his party welcomes the Gauteng High Court’s ruling on the Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF’s) national shutdown on Monday.
This despite the court dismissing the DA’s urgent interdict to have the shutdown declared unlawful.
The court judgment, however, does state that the EFF and its members are prohibited from shutting down schools, stores or businesses.
They also cannot stop any trade of traffic on public roads.
“This judgment is a victory for law and order in South Africa,” said Steenhuisen.
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Eskom employee arrested for fraud involving millions
A contracted Eskom employee has been arrested at the utility’s Matla Power Station for fraud and corruption worth millions of rands involving a bogus supplier.
The Eskom employee was handcuffed by the South African Police Services’ Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (DPCI) on Friday.
Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokoena said the arrest is in connection with “prior transgressions” committed while the suspect was employed by Eskom as a senior buyer at the Arnot Power Station in 2014.
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‘Count us out,’ military veterans tell EFF about ‘opportunistic’ shutdown
The uMkhonto weSizwe Liberation War Veterans (MKLWV) has distanced itself from the Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) March 20 national shutdown, saying the protest was an act of desperation.
Dan Hatto, MKLWV national convener, said the organisation’s standpoint on the shutdown was the defence of the hard won democratic rights for all the citizens of South Africa.
He said their mission was to defend rights for all the citizens of the country and distanced themselves from the planned national shutdown.
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NSFAS increases students 2023 living allowances
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has announced it will increase students living allowances by 10%.
NSFAS said the increase will be backdated to the beginning of the 2023 academic year.
NSFAS spokesperson Maduvha Maseda said the increase follows Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Innovation Blade Nzimande’s agreement to the proposal that was put before him a few weeks ago.
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PICS: One dead, one injured in horrific head-on collision in KZN
One person was killed in a horrifying head-on collision between a small vehicle and a bus on Sweetwaters Road towards Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal, on Saturday morning.
AET Security spokesperson Renee Veenstra told The Witness that there were two people travelling in the small vehicle.
She said reports from the scene revealed that the two people were driving home from an all-night church service when the accident happened.
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