First Take SA

Deputy National Commissioner for Human Resources management, Lieutenant General Bonang Mgwenya has been granted 20-thousand rand bail at the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court. Mgwenya is facing charges of corruption, fraud and money laundering for her alleged role in ensuring a contract to supply emergency warning equipment for the South African Police Service in 2017 went to Instrumentation for Traffic Law enforcement (Pty) Ltd -- a company she had close ties with. She will be joined by 11 others, including senior SAPS officials, such as former acting national police commissioner Kgomotso Phalane.

Former Free State Human Settlements MEC Mosebenzi Zwane has denied that he had a hand in selecting contractors for the province's 2010 1billion rands Housing Project. Zwane who was testifying for the second time at the State Capture Commission explained how it came to pass that over 300 contractors bid for the project, some of whom had been disqualified from an earlier disputed open tender process. Zwane has been fingered by a number of officials as being the mastermind behind a scheme to fast-track the delivery of houses within the 2010 financial year which saw 600 million rands paid to service providers for little value for money. He in turn laid the blame on them.

Transport minister Fikile Mbalula says the March by Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) in Gauteng, is retaliation for his actions in cleaning the rot at PRASA. In a statement, Mbalula said this was with particular reference to the termination of security contracts that have achieved the opposite of what they were meant to deliver. The association marched in Johannesburg on Monday morning demanding the arrest of Mbalula among other issues. They accused the minister of doing nothing about the severely crippled and vandalised rail system in the country. A twitter row then ensued as a result of the minister referring to MKMVA members as thugs.

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has stopped payments of personal protective equipment to service providers in the Free State. This amid SIU's investigation on PPE scandal in the province.

Former Eskom Board Member, Venete Klein, has told the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture that she recalls that former Eskom board member, Ben Ngubane, was persistently on the phone with the former Minister of Public Enterprises, Lynne Brown, before a decision was made to include Eskom's former Financial Director, Tsholofelo Molefe, on the list of executives who would be suspended in 2015. Other witnesses - including former Eskom chairperson Zola Tsotsi - have testified that the instruction to conduct an inquiry at Eskom and suspend three executives at the time - came directly from former president Jacob Zuma.

Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi, says illegal schools will be shut down and those operating them will be held to account. YESTERDAY (thursday 8 October), Lesufi and the police closed down the Wisdom private school in Ivory Park, east of Johannesburg. According to the department, the school is not registered, is operating illegally and is employing undocumented foreign nationals as teachers.

The ANC's KwaZulu-Natal Integrity Commission has begun its work, summoning party members implicated in various crimes to appear before it. The commission is headed by a team of well-respected veterans, among them Sipho Magwaza, who chairs the commission in the province. Magwaza says those members who have already appeared before the commission have been co-operative.

Former Chief Financial Officer of the now-defunct VBS Mutual bank - Phillip Truter - has spent his first night in jail after he was sentenced yesterday to an effective 7 years imprisonment by the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sitting at the Palm Ridge Court on Gauteng's East Rand. Truter entered into a plea agreement with the state where he pleaded guilty to all six charges against him, including corruption, fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. He has also agreed to turn state witness and testify in the case of his seven co-accused.

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) wants the Special Tribunal, sitting at the Booysens Magistrates Court, to freeze the assets of contractors involved in the multi million rand Beitbridge Border fence contract. This relates to an advance payment of 21-point-8 million rand by the Public Works Department to two contractors. The contract was for the erection of the 40 kilometer Beitbridge border fence. The tribunal will hear the urgent application today.

The head of the National Prosecuting Authority, Shamila Batohi, says time for impunity is over. Batohi briefed Parliament on the NPA 2019/20 and first quarter of 2020/21 Annual Report. She informed MPs that additional funding has enabled the biggest recruit drive in the history of the organisation, but cautioned that a reduction in resources could seriously hamper the fight against corruption going forward.