Daily news update: SA Tourism-Spurs deal ‘unlawful’, Thabo Bester, and Port St Johns floods

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: 25 March

SA Tourism-Spurs deal ‘unlawful’, says De Lille

Despite the claims of huge monetary benefits for the country, the proposed sponsorship deal between SA Tourism and Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur is unlawful.

This is according to Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille.

“Given the circumstances, we find ourselves in economically, we have to be much more careful and give consideration to everything that we do as government. Money must be spent wisely and prudently at all times as we are entrusted with public funds,” she said in a media briefing on Friday.

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Thabo Bester ran a glamorous media company from prison

Convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester was running a multi-million rand scam business while serving a life sentence for rape and murder at Mangaung Correctional Centre.

Bester posed as the “chairman” of 21st Century Media, a scam event and production company, which was made to look like a subsidiary of 21st Century Fox.

21st Century Media became the subject of a social media storm in 2018 for promoting a “Women in Media” conference with Hollywood A-listers as guest speakers, which turned out to be a scam. 

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Thabo Bester ‘escape’: Government might consider ending G4S contract after investigation

Meanwhile, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola was on Friday tight-lipped on whether government will end its contract with G4S, the security company that runs the prison that Facebook rapist Thabo Bester allegedly escaped from.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Constitutional conference in Midrand, Lamola said the Department of Correctional Services along with the police are conducting tests on the corpse believed to be Bester.

“There has been an investigation that is ongoing on the matter [looking] into the DNA and also all the leads,” he said on Friday.

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Ekurhuleni Mayor Tania Campbell faces another no-confidence motion

City of Ekurhuleni Mayor Tania Campbell will face another fresh attempt by opposition parties to remove her from office.

The motion of no confidence has been approved by the metro’s council programming committee and will be heard during an ordinary sitting of the council on 30 March 2023.

Campbell was previously removed from office through an ANC-sponsored motion of no-confidence on 26 October.

After two weeks, she was reinstated as mayor in November, after a collapse in talks between the ANC and EFF over which party should run the metro.

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WATCH: Eastern Cape weather – Village hit by landslide and floods

Port St Johns in the Eastern Cape was hit by a massive landslide and floods during the early hours of Friday morning.

The landslide and floods occurred in Ward 16, one of the villages outside Port St Johns when lightning struck a student lodging home.

Five pupils who attend a nearby secondary school and lived at a lodging home have been injured, but are confirmed to be stable at the time of publishing.

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Trevor Noah joins Charlie Chaplin in the history books and bags a cool R3 mil  

South African comedian and previous host of The Daily Show, Trevor Noah has reached yet another milestone in his career. The 39-year-old was awarded the Erasmus Prize – described as Europe’s most distinguished recognition – for his stand-up comedy, political satire and humanism earlier this month.

The comedian is yet to receive his prize as the award ceremony will only take place later this year at the Dutch Royal Palace in Amsterdam.

In a statement, the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation said they awarded Noah with this prestigious recognition for his inspired contribution to the theme ‘In Praise of Folly’, named after Erasmus’s most famous book, which is filled with humour, social criticism and political satire.

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