Daily news update: Nehawu strike continues, ActionSA ‘drama’, tributes pour in for Costa Titch 

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Daily news update: 13 March

Nehawu vows to intensify public sector strike

The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) has vowed to intensify its public service strike until their demands are met by government.

Nehawu strike

The union’s leadership on Sunday afternoon held a media briefing in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, on the collapsed wage negotiations in the public sector.

ALSO READ: ‘Nehawu strike may not last long’ – Wage deal on the cards?

Public servants affiliated with the union have been staging countrywide protests since last Monday over a wage dispute with government. The union is demanding a 10% wage increase, while government is offering 4.7%.

Read more here.

‘Irreconcilable differences’: ActionSA confirms talks over Bongani Baloyi’s political future

It appears ActionSA Gauteng provincial leader, Bongani Baloyi, could soon be quitting the party, just a year since he joined the organisation led by Herman Mashaba.

This follows media reports on Sunday that Mashaba and Baloyi are butting heads over several issues related to the running of the party’s Gauteng structures, with ActionSA having reportedly asked Baloyi to surrender his position.

ALSO READ: Bongani Baloyi ‘will regret his move’ to join ActionSA, says Zille

Mashaba meets with Baloyi

ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont confirmed on Sunday that a meeting did take place last Tuesday between Mashaba and Baloyi.

Read more here.

Department of Military Veterans DG Irene Mpolweni suspended

The Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans confirmed over the weekend that Irene Mpolweni, Director General of the Department of Military Veterans, had been placed on precautionary suspension.

The Ministry also said that it is not in a position to disclose the nature of the allegations or charges at this stage. 

“We have a duty to respect employer-employee confidentiality. We will pronounce once the entire disciplinary process had run its course.”

Read more here.

Load shedding to alternate between stage 4 and 5 this week

Eskom has announced that it will ramp up load shedding to stage 4 from 4pm on Sunday.

Load shedding

The struggling power utility said stage 4 rolling power cuts will be implemented until 4pm on Monday. After that, stage 5 load shedding will be implemented until 5am on Tuesday.

ALSO READ: Providing electricity not government’s job argues Ramaphosa

This comes after South Africans got a slight reprieve from the crippling power cuts that were downgraded to stage 1 earlier on Sunday.

Read more here.

School kids arrested for faking kidnapping, demanding ransom from family

A 20-year-old pupil was yesterday, Saturday 11 March 2023 arrested together with his friend, aged 24, for allegedly faking a kidnapping and demanding R7000 ransom from his family.

Fake kidnapping

According to police, the 20-year-old pupil left his home on Friday morning in Lusaka in Dennilton as though he was heading to school which is about 3 kilometres from his home. 

Police say his mother became worried when he didn’t return home as usual and informed her husband when he returned from work. 

The husband told police that he was also surprised because he said he received several messages from his son’s number indicating that he must call him but when he called back, he didn’t answer.

Read more here.

Tributes pour in for Costa Titch 

Following the confirmation by Costa Titch’s family that the rapper did indeed die after collapsing on stage during a performance, tributes from the South African music fraternity have been pouring in for the musician. 

‘Robbed of a son’

The musician’s family issued a statement on his passing on Sunday morning, saying; “death has tragically knocked at our door. Robbing us of our beloved son, brother and grandson, Constantinos Tsobanoglou, 28.”

“It is with deep pain that we find ourselves having to acknowledge his passing at this time.” 

Read more here.