Daily news update: Magashule must step aside, Bushiri loses daughter and more vaccines for SA

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ANC NEC meeting: Magashule and others must step aside in 30 days

ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule. Picture: Gallo Images.

The African National Congress (ANC) President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that all members facing criminal charges in the ruling party must step aside within 30 days or face suspension.

This is after the National Executive Committee (NEC), the ANC’s highest decision-making body in between conferences met virtually at the weekend discussing a number of matters relating to the party.

In his closing address to the ANC’ NEC, Ramaphosa confirmed that members facing criminal charges before a court of law must step aside from their positions and present themselves to the party’s integrity commission.

WATCH: Bushiri blames daughter’s death on Kenyan authorities

Self-proclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri in the dock of the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court where he was granted bail. Picture: Jacques Nelles

Self-proclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri has blamed the Kenyan authorities after the announcement of his daughter Israella Bushiri’s death.

Earlier this month Bushiri said his daughter was  battling a lung infection in an undisclosed hospital. It was later announced her illness had worsened and she was transferred to ICU.

“It is with deep sadness that I announce the passing on of my daughter, Israella Bushiri. As a father, it was my desire to see her grow and serve the Lord, However, the will of God was for her to return to Him,” he wrote on his Facebook page on Monday morning.

South Africans may be among Moz insurgents

During Wednesday’s attack, insurgents forced nearly 200 people including foreign gas workers to seek shelter at the Amarula Palma hotel in northern Mozambique. Picture: iStock.

Several South Africans might have been involved in the fatal insurgent attacks in Mozambique last week, which saw dozens of people killed and thousands more evacuated from the Palma area.

The militant attack on Palma last week, a region where a major gas project worth an estimated $60 billion (R900 billion) has been forced to halt work and on construction developments worth billions more. 

For the better part of three years, a series of Islamist insurgent attacks have plagued the Mozambican town of Palma, the most recent of which saw dozens lose their lives. 

WATCH: Fearless slender mongoose takes out snouted cobra

The mongoose has its teeth in the cobra. Picture: Alison Sigerson Facebook

Mongooses are famous for their ability to kill cobras and while many believe they are immune to snake venom, it’s not quite true. They can tolerate a certain amount of snake venom, but they’re not completely immune.

This fact didn’t seem to bother this fearless mongoose much. Mongooses might look cute and fluffy, but they can put up a mean fight when push comes to shove.

Alison Sigerson recently shared the most amazing photographs of a mongoose taking on a cobra on the Facebook group, Snakes of Southern Africa.

Another booze ban a ‘death warrant’ for small businesses

A sanitising station is with sanitiser in an alcohol bottle at the Anti-Social Social Club in Melville, Johannesburg. 22 August 2020.  Restaurants and bars have their first weekend of being able to serve alcohol since the national lockdown was announced in march 2020. Picture: Tracy Lee Stark

Prioritising lives and livelihoods have become one and the same in many aspects as South Africa continues to brace itself for a third wave of Covid-19 infections. 

This is the sentiment voiced by South African Breweries (SAB) corporate affairs vice-president Zoleka Lisa. “The truth is the beer industry is still in recovery from the devastation wrought by 19 weeks of no trade,” Lisa said. 

Last year, R36.3 billion in sales revenue was lost and more than 200,000 jobs shed. 

Police looking into new rules for use of rubber bullets

General Khehla Sitole, National Police Commissioner during the Kwa-Zulu Natal Executive Council special meeting to focus on issues of crime in certain parts of the province on October 21, 2020 in Durban, South Africa. According to media reports, the Executive Council was joined by the Minister of Police General Bheki Cele and the SAPS management. Picture: Gallo Images / Darren Stewart

Police Minister Bheki Cele says the use of rubber bullets in crowd control management is being “urgently” reviewed.

Speaking at the long-awaited release of a report compiled by a panel of both local and international experts on policing in South Africa, specifically public order policing (POP) and crowd control management, Cele on Monday morning said the recent death of Mthokozisi Ntumba had “once again cast a spotlight on the use of rubber bullets”.

“The issue has been raised sharply by the members of the expert panel. I have also received various inputs on this matter for consideration,” he said.

These are the school activities now allowed under new Covid-19 rules

11 year old Grade 6 learner, Kayla Maseti and fellow schoolmates sit in specially demarcated spaces on the schools field to allow for social distancing during break at Edenglen Primary School in Edenglen, 6 July 2020. Picture: Neil McCartney

Sports, choirs and tournaments are permitted again at schools following an amendment to Covid-19 directions by the Department of Basic Education.

The signed amendment, dated 27 March, gives the go-ahead for school sports matches, physical education, extra-curricular activities, and inter-school, district, provincial and national school sport tournaments.

However, the conditions are tough, with no spectators allowed and a host of other rules that must be adhered to.

Things you should know about the Expropriation Bill

The fence of Jan van der Bank’s farm in Hammanskraal, 16 September 2020. Jan’s farm is slowly being taken over by illegal intruders that he is unable to prevent from entering his land. The intruders break and even steal sections of his fence regularly. Picture: Jacques Nelles

In 2019, the Parliamentary Advisory Panel on Land Reform advised the president that the old Expropriation Act No 63 of 1975 was unconstitutional and in conflict with Section 25 of the Constitution of South Africa, 1996.

On October 9, 2020, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure published the Expropriation Bill B3-2020. This article aims to provide a brief explanatory summary of the expropriation and compensation processes envisaged in the bill, as well as the proposed inclusion of nil compensation.

SA secures 30 million J&J vaccines, rollout expected in April

Some of the vials of the Comirnaty (Pfizer-BioNTech) Covid-19 vaccine. Picture: AFP

South Africa is expected to receive about 30 million Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccines, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced.

Speaking at Aspen Pharmacare manufacturing facility in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape on Monday, Ramaphosa confirmed the facility would produce 220 million vaccines for Africa.

Ramaphosa said the Aspen facility had secured a deal with J&J, which the company signed off on Sunday.

Pearl Modiadie bows out of Metro FM as radio broadcaster

Pearl Modiadie. Picture: Instagram

This season of changes in radio that occurs every April has resulted in the ending of two Metro FM fan favourites.

Radio DJ’s Pearl Modiadie and Luthando Shosha aka LootLove will no longer be on air.

The station made the announcement late last week. Pearl confirmed that she is hanging up the mic on  Lunch with Thomas & Pearl, with her last show being on 31 March.

Chiefs out to avoid looking like April fools

Gavin Hunt knows his Kaizer Chiefs side have some tough tests in April. Picture: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix.

With two wins, two draws and one defeat in their last five games, in theory Kaizer Chiefs are doing better than they have been given credit for.

Yet if these statistics don’t look too bad on paper, the position the team is in, in both the the Caf Champions League and the DStv Premiership, is bothersome.

Amakhosi are still in with a chance in the Champions League’s Group C, but need to win one and at least draw the other in the two games they have left.

Temba Bavuma: New captain, new vision for the Proteas

Temba Bavuma of South Africa during day 4 of the 1st Test match between South Africa and England at SuperSport Park on December 29, 2019 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images)

New South Africa limited-overs captain Temba Bavuma said on Monday that he hopes to define a style of play for the Proteas that will be fit for every condition and every occasion.

Bavuma will lead South Africa for the first time in the three ODIs against Pakistan which start at Centurion on Friday, followed by four T20 Internationals.

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