Avatar photo

By Citizen Reporter

Journalist


Daily news update: Bokgabo Poo murder case, Mkhwebane impeachment and Tembisa Hospital scandal

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.


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: 18 October

Bokgabo Poo: ‘Her eyes were not there,’ says mom

The mother of four-year old Bokgabo Poo, whose mutilated body was discovered on Saturday, said yesterday she was still able to identify her.

“I saw her with the T-shirt she was wearing, her nose, her mouth, her little pretty fingers, her eye sockets, even though the eyes were not there, the hair, I could just tell that is my daughter,” said mother Tsholofelo Poo.

She said she would like to see the death penalty come back just for her daughter’s murderer.

Poo said if that does not happen, she wishes the case could be thrown out of court so that the community can get their hands on the suspect.

Mkhwebane impeachment: Section 194 inquiry chair ‘avoided laying complaint against Mpofu after threats’

Daily news update: Mkhwebane impeachment
Adv Dali Mpofu. Picture: Tracy Lee Stark

Section 194 Committee chairperson, Qubudile Dyantyi has denied abusing Advocate Dali Mpofu during a heated exchanged last month.

The impeachment proceedings resumed on Monday, with Dyantyi rejecting Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s request to recuse himself.

Mpofu applied for Dyantyi’s recusal last month accusing the committee’s chairperson of showing “inherent bias” towards him and his client.

Babita Deokaran murder: ‘Distant’ relative of Ramaphosa implicated in dodgy Tembisa Hospital tenders

Babita Deokaran murder: ‘Distant’ relative of Ramaphosa implicated in dodgy Tembisa Hospital tenders

Daily news update: Tembisa tender scandal
Photo: Neil McCartney

While the family of Babita Deokaran anxiously await justice to take its course after her death more than one year ago, investigations have revealed those responsible for dodgy tender dealings could be distant relatives of the country’s president.

The latest in News24’s series of ‘Silenced’ reports revealed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s nephew by marriage, Hangwani Morgan Maumela, played an integral role in millions of rands worth of tenders at Tembisa Hospital.

Deokaran was shot and killed outside her Mondeor, Johannesburg, home after flagging hundreds of cases of possible corruption worth R850 million within the Gauteng Department of Health.

Joburg could get its first rains of the season this week

Will Joburg get the first rains of the season this week? Photo for illustration: iStock

Weather forecasters have said that Joburgers could finally expect some rainfall from Monday, but that this would likely not help to eleviate the water crisis by much.

According to AccuWeather, there will be 87% cloud cover on Monday, with a thunderstorm expected in the afternoon.

There is a 55% chance of rain, with only one hour of rain expected.

The weather service also forecasted that there was 77% chance of precipitation for tomorrow, but at an even lower rainfall of only 4.2 mm.

Letoya Makhene-Pulumo denies running bitcoin investment scam

Letoya Makhene - Pulumo

Singer, actress and sangoma – Letoya Makhene-Pulumo. Picture: Instagram

Actress and well-known sangoma Letoya Makhene-Pulumo addressed claims that she had been running a crypto-currency and bitcoin investment scheme scam and vehemently denied any involvement therein. 

“I do not do bitcoin!” read the caption of the live stream video which was later shared on her Instagram profile.

The video was shared in response to a recent IOL article titled “Free State man loses R200K, car to Letoya Makhene’s Bitcoin investment scam”. 

The article claimed that a man by the name of Tanki Mathubanyane “was forced to dig into his savings after he was approached by the actress under an alias of Zanele Mpande”. 

World Cup boom pushes some Qatar residents out of homes

Qatar will host the 2022 Fifa World Cup next month. Picture: Giuseppe CACACE / AFP.

Qatari landlords eyeing profit from the looming World Cup have been kicking out a growing number of mostly foreign tenants, sometimes with just a few days’ notice.

More than one million football fans are expected to descend on the capital Doha during the November-December tournament, putting a strain on the tiny Gulf nation.

Landlords who have spotted an opening to increase rents “show no pity” and the market is dominated by “greed”, said a representative of a real estate company, speaking on condition of anonymity.