Daily news update: Mabuyane implicated in PP report, load shedding extended and Hawks probe Enoch Mgijima stadium

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How Mabuyane, ANC pocketed R1.1 million from Winnie Mandela’s memorial service

Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane and the province’s ANC treasurer Babalo Madikizela have been fingered in a damning Public Protector’s report for allegedly siphoning R1.1 million from money set aside for Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s memorial service in Mbizana in 2018.

The ANC also allegedly benefitted from the pilfering, with R280,000 being deposited into the governing party’s bank account.

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s office has released a report, which shows how these two and others improperly benefitted from the money, and was the result of a complaint by Xolile Mashukuca on July 1, 2019.

Eskom extends stage 2 load shedding until Thursday morning

Eskom has extended stage 2 load shedding until Thursday morning in order to continue replenishing the emergency generation reserves.

The power utility will be implementing stage 2 load shedding every day from Friday evening between 9pm and 5am and the cycle will continue until next week on Thursday at 5am.

“This load shedding is also necessary to address other additional risks in the generation fleet,” said spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha in a statement on Friday.

Facebook services shut down for the second time in a week

Facebook says it is aware that some people are having trouble accessing its apps and products on Friday night.

“We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and we apologise for any inconvenience,” said Facebook in a statement.

This is Facebook’s second outage in a week, after experiencing some difficulties on Monday.

The social media giant shared a statement on Twitter and apologised to those whose businesses depend on its services.

Hawks to investigate controversial R15 million Enoch Mgijima stadium

The Hawks in the Eastern Cape have confirmed they are investigating the controversial R15 million sports facility that was recently unveiled by the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality. 

The so-called state-of-the-art facility in Lesseyton, northwest of Komani, was opened by the municipality on Monday to much fanfare from officials, but soon garnered a lot of criticism from South Africans.

This came after pictures showed a substandard sports field with patchy grass, a couple of cheap-looking pavilions, and freestanding goal posts that don’t have nets. The white marking on the pitch was not even clear.

Vaccine hesitancy’s wee problem: study links Covid-19 to erectile dysfunction

If there was ever a time where men had to step up and take the vaccine plunge, it would be now. 

In light of a new pilot study published in the National Library of Medicine, Covid-19 can cause erectile dysfunction (ED). 

Penile tissue was collected from four patients undergoing surgery for severe ED, two with a history of Covid-19, and two without. 

It was concluded that the presence of the Covid-19 virus in the penis was traceable long after the initial infection. 

Hawks nab directors accused of claiming R10 million for 508 ghost workers

The Hawks in Germiston, east of Johannesburg, have swooped on three company directors who allegedly defrauded the Covid-19 Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) of approximately R10 million last year.

The Hawks had begun investigating Denmag Trading in March this year.

Between April and June 2020, the company allegedly applied for relief for 537 employees and were paid out R10 million. But in reality, Denmag only employed 29 staff.

Directors Levy Moremi, 36, Treasure Moremi, 34, and Anna Moremi, 33, then allegedly laundered the funds into various bank accounts.

Gauteng aiming to ramp up vaccinations ahead of festive season

The race is on to beat the inevitable fourth wave of Covid-19 infections. What’s worse, the wave is due to start in December as the world gears up for the festive season, and is expected to last 75 days.

The Gauteng province is now embarking on an intense 14-week drive targeting areas with low vaccine uptake since 30 August 2021.

The vaccination process has been simplified to make it easier for all eligible people to get the jab.

There are now various locations where you can get the vaccine such as mobile pop-up sites, taxi ranks, pharmacies and workplaces.