First Take SA

Former Eskom Board chairperson, Ben Ngubane, has told the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, he found it disturbing that there were outside forces dictating affairs at the power utility. Ngubane admitted there were corporate governance issues at Eskom, but has denied knowing to what extent the Guptas influenced contracts deals in their favour. He concluded his evidence at the commission YESTERDAY

ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule will appear before the party's Integrity Commission on Saturday. This was announced by party president, Cyril Ramaphosa, at the end of the ANC NEC meeting which started on Sunday. The three-day virtual meeting was also attended by both former party presidents, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. It was called to discuss challenges facing the ANC and the so-called 'stepping aside' resolution which deals with members facing criminal charges. These include Magashule, ANC MP Bonagni Bongo and KZN MPL Zandile Gumede among others.

Researcher and language expert, Langalibalele Mathenjwa, has been taken to task for finding that there was no evidence that Western Cape Judge President, John Hlophe, had intended to influence Justice Chris Jafta during a meeting 12 years ago. Mathenjwa has been giving expert evidence at the Judicial Conduct Tribunal's gross misconduct hearing against Hlophe that's underway in Kempton Park, east of Johannesburg. Hlophe is accused of trying to influence two Justices to rule in favour of former President Jacob Zuma in a Constitutional Court case.

The Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development department has allocated one-billion rand to support subsistence farmers through the Presidential Employment Stimulus Initiative. 75-thousand small scale farmers are expected to benefit from the initiative with farming input vouchers ranging from one to nine-thousand rand. This in a bid to assist these farmers whose production was disrupted due to Covid-19 pandemic. Applications will open from the 10th until the 20th of December and will target 50% of women, 40% youth with 6% targeting people with disabilities and unemployed military veterans.

The ANC has removed the Mayor, the Chief Whip and the Speaker in the troubled Mogalakwena Local Municipality in Mokopane in Limpopo. The decision to fire the three was taken during the ANC Provincial Working Committee's meeting on Friday. Mayor Andrina Matsemela has been presiding over the unstable municipality since the 2016 local government elections.

Western Cape Transport Minister, Bonginkosi Madikizela, says there's a need to intensify the campaign to enforce adherence to Covid-19 regulations over the coming weeks. Coronavirus infections in the province have increased by more than two-thousand since Thursday. Currently the Western Cape has more than 12-thousand-400 active cases of the virus with over one-thousand-300 people in hospital. Madikizela started an awareness drive at the Joe Gqabi long-distance bus and taxi terminal in Phillipi East over the weekend.

A showdown is looming between the Basic Education Department on the one hand and teacher organisations and students on the other, over the department's decision for matric learners to rewrite two exam papers after they were found to have been leaked. Teachers union - SADTU and student body COSAS are expected to head to court TODAY (Monday) to seek an urgent interdict challenging the department's decision. Basic Education Angie Motshekga announced on Friday that learners will rewrite Mathematics paper two and Physical Science paper two on the 15th and 17th of this month. An employee of a Johannesburg-based company contracted by the department to print matric exam papers has since been arrested.

The National Director of Public Prosecutions, Shamila Batohi says there's a huge progress in recovery money that was stolen meant for dealing with covid-19 pandemic. She says a number of initiatives have been put in place to capacitate the Asset Forfeiture Unit to recovery money that was lost in corruption activities. Batohi says NPA is also trying to be transparent when doing its work. She says it has struggled in the past to deal with transparency and independence.

Government has declared the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro in the Eastern Cape a Coronavirus hotspot. President Cyril Ramaphosa made the announcement last night after a special sitting of Cabinet and the National Coronavirus Command Council. The president also extended the national State of Disaster to the 15th of January.

The State Capture Commission has heard how the Gupta wedding in Sun City was used to launder money from the Estina Vrede dairy project in the Free State. A researcher from London based World Investigations, Paul Holden, was testifying about offshore money flow related to the Dairy Farm project at the inquiry in Johannesburg. More than 200 million rand was spent by the Free State government on the project meant to uplift Black emerging farmers in the province. Holden also testified that of the 280 million rand paid by the Free State government to Estina, a mere 21 million rand went into running the dairy project.