Daily news update: ANC’s next Joburg mayoral candidate and spotlight on Nkandla consultants

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Mpho Moerane to be ANC’s next Joburg mayoral candidate

The African National Congress (ANC) regional executive committee in Johannesburg has reportedly endorsed member of the mayoral committee for Environment and Infrastructure Services Mpho Moerane as their mayoral candidate.

Moerane will be replacing late Johannesburg mayor Jolidee Matongo, who recently passed on following a road accident two months after taking on the position. Before his passing, he had spent a full day in Soweto with President Cyril Ramaphosa on the campaign trail.

Nearly 17 million Covid-19 vaccine doses administered, 21% of SA fully vaxxed

South Africa has administered 16 999 722 doses of Covid-19 vaccines as of Monday evening, the Department of Health said today.

The tally includes the two-dose Pfizer vaccine as well as the single shot of the Johnson & Johnson jab.

According to the latest data, 159 732 vaccines were distributed in the last 24 hours.

The number of fully vaccinated adults has now gone up to 8 501 712, while 12 268 451 people had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 shot. 

Consultants hired for Nkandla upgrades had fake certificates – SIU witness

A forensic investigator from the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has testified that the 14 consultants who worked on the upgrades at former president Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead had “fraudulent certificates”.

The investigator was testifying at the Pietermaritzburg High Court in the civil recovery proceedings against Nkandla architect Minenhle Makhanya.

The witness can’t be named as the hearing is being heard in camera. This is to ensure confidential security information about Zuma’s homestead is not revealed.

Elon Musk becomes richest person in the world again, eclipsing space foe Bezos

South Africa-born Elon Musk is the richest person in the world again after he became only the third person to ever be worth $200 billion.

The other two people to reach the $200 billion milestone are Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and luxury magnate Bernard Arnault.

Musk reached the milestone on Monday after shares of his electric car company Tesla continued a four-month rally, according to Forbes.

Musk became $3.8 billion richer on Monday and at the close of markets was worth $203.4 billion. Bezos, who was the world’s richest person on Monday morning, saw his fortune fall by $1 billion due to a 0.6%  decline in Amazon stock.

Musk is the co-founder of Tesla and aerospace company SpaceX.

Ex-ANC MP Vincent Smith’s graft case moved, state to subpoena Agrizzi’s doctor

The Specialised Commercial Crime Court sitting in Palm Ridge on Tuesday postponed the corruption case of former ANC MP Vincent Smith to 2 November.

The postponement was due to Smith appointing new lawyers, as well as for the state to disclose the final indictment.

Smith faces charges of corruption for the alleged gratifications he received from corruption-accused company Bosasa in the form of security upgrades to his Gauteng home, and for accepting cash transferred into his personal bank account via the bank account of his company, Euroblitz.

Solidarity Fund announces R3 billion received in donations since March 2020

The Solidarity Fund has received a total of R3.44 billion in donations since its establishment in March 2020.

The non-profit organisation (NPO) on Tuesday released its fully audited annual financial statements covering the period from 25 March 2020 to 28 February 2021. The fund was established to mobilise and coordinate financial contributions from donors to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic

It revealed that it had received R3.44 billion in pledges and disbursed R2.59 billion to its three pillars focusing on behavioural change (social campaigns on Covid-19), humanitarian relief (supporting the most vulnerable communities) and the health response (supporting and protecting front-line workers).