Daily news update: Trompies’ Mjokes dies, DRC volcano erupts, 21 runners killed

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Trompies member Mjokes passes on

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – AUGUST 18: Kwaito legendary group; Trompies on stage with rapper; Reason during the 2016/17 PSL MTN8 launch at the Tin Factory on August 18, 2016 in Johannesburg, South Africa. During the event, MTN SA Chief Consumer Officer; Larry Annette announced the renewal of the MTN8 sponsorship for five more years. (Photo by Gallo Images / Lefty Shivambu)

Legendary kwaito group Trompies is mourning the death of Emmanuel Mojalefa Matsane, popularly known as Mjokes, who died in a car accident in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Mjokes was Kalawa Jazmee’s co-director and the fifth member of Trompies.

‘Risk of apartheid high’ in Israel, warns France

Masked fighters with the National Resistance Brigades (NRB), the military wing of the Democracy Front Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), walk in front of the ruins of the al-Jalaa tower which hosted the offices of the news agency Associated Press and the Aljazeera English channel, destroyed by Israeli strikes during the recent confrontations between Hamas and Israel, in Gaza City on May 23, 2021. (Photo by Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP)

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned on Sunday of the risk of “long-lasting apartheid” in Israel in the event the Palestinians fail to obtain their own state.

Le Drian is one of the first senior French officials to use the term “apartheid” in reference to Israel, which has angrily denied any policy of racial discrimination.

Extreme weather kills 21 runners during mountain race

Rescuers carry equipment as they search for runners who were competing in a 100-kilometre cross-country mountain race when extreme weather hit the area, leaving 21 dead, near the city of Baiyin in China’s northwestern Gansu province. Picture: STR / AFP

Twenty-one people were killed after hail, freezing rain and high winds hit runners taking part in a 100-kilometre (62-mile) cross-country mountain race in China, state media said Sunday.

Tourists, rare gorillas ‘safe’ after DRC volcano eruption

The red sky is seen after the Nyiragongo volcano erupted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as seen from the border in Gisenyi, Rwanda, on May 23, 2021. (Photo by Simon Wohlfahrt / AFP)

Tourists who were near the crater when the Nyiragongo volcano in the Democratic Republic Congo erupted are safe, the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) said Sunday.

Nor were the rare mountain gorillas in the Virunga National Park threatened by the eruption, the institute added.

Sundowns apologise to Ahly after fans abuse Pitso

Pitso Mosimane did not receive a direct apology from Sundowns, though his club Al Ahly eventually did. Picture: BackpagePix

Mamelodi Sundowns finally issued an apology on Sunday for the behaviour of a section of their supporters, who held abusive placards and hurled verbal abuse at Al Ahly head coach Pitso Mosimane ahead of their Caf Champions League quarterfinal at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday.

Masuku not quite vindicated yet, says SIU 

Former Gauteng Health MEC Bandile Masuku and Minister Zweli Mkhize visited Nasrec as part of monitoring state of readiness as Covid-19 cases increase in Gauteng, and to support staff working during pandemic, 20 July 2020. Picture: Nigel Sibanda

An elated former Gauteng health MEC Bandile Masuku said in a statement on Saturday that he was “happy and relieved” that no causal connections were found between him and suspended presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko and the “value system and ethical framework” of the ANC. 

However, his joy may be short-lived, after the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) said in a statement on Sunday that the High Court judgement by Masuku was flawed and “misleading”, starting with the nature of the unit’s investigations. 

UPDATE: Italy cable car accident kills 13

A photo taken and handout on May 23, 2021 by The Italian Firefighters “Vigili del Fuoco” shows rescuers at work by a cable car that crashed to the ground in the resort town of Stresa on the shores of Lake Maggiore in the Piedmont region. (Photo by Handout / Vigili del Fuoco / AFP)

Thirteen people died and two children were seriously injured Sunday when a cable car slammed into the side of a mountain in northern Italy, emergency services said.