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President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Friday the Opening of Parliament being held on July 18 is a fitting tribute to former President Nelson Mandela, as it calls on individuals and communities to take time to reflect on his values and principles and to make a positive impact on communities and globally.

The Opening of Parliament will coincide with the United Nations-declared Nelson Mandela International Day and will be a Joint Sitting of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces.

The Presidency said the Opening of Parliament will be a platform for Ramaphosa to outline the priorities of the seventh administration.

"This day, which marks the birthday of the Founding President of a democratic South Africa, is a global celebration and day of personal and collective actions for good that honour the leader's life and legacy," Ramaphosa said.

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) national head Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya assured on Friday that the State Capture National Investigation Task Team is focussing on conducting comprehensive investigations, prioritising investigations and transforming inquiries into case dockets.

Briefing the media on the Hawks 2023/24 achievements, he said 2 241 statements had been obtained in 53 cases, relating to the recommendations that came out of the State capture commission.

Twenty-seven suspects - 19 natural and eight juristic persons - had been arrested by the Hawks, he said.

He announced that the DPCI had already arrested six suspects in the Bosasa case before it was taken over by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, bringing the total arrests by the DPCI to 33.

The team recovered over R400-million, promptly deposited into the Criminal Asset Recovery Account, he added.

Meanwhile, Lebeya announced that former Chief Financial Officer of Steinhoff Andries Benjamin La Grange's case was postponed to October 4, this after he was granted bail of R150 000 after appearing in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.

La Grange handed himself over to the Hawks and was arrested on Wednesday.

La Grange and former Steinhoff director Stephanus Johannes Grobler are facing charges of racketeering, three counts of fraud worth R21-billion, manipulation of financial statements, and failure to report fraudulent activities.

As at the end of the quarter under review, the DPCI was carrying 783 cases, 284 of which were on the court roll, 277 pending decision and 222 investigations related to the South African Revenue Service.

CONVICTIONS AND FRAUD

Lebeya said Gauteng contributed to a high number of convictions and fraud cases during the fourth quarter of 2023/24.

He said Gauteng contributed a high number of convictions, with a total of 32, while the North West had 31.

He noted that fraud and corruption were negatively affecting the economy and the DPCI remained steadfast in ensuring that fraudsters and corrupt persons were brought to justice.

He said fraud cases contributed the highest number of arrests, with 224 accused including 21 juristic persons.

He highlighted that the DPCI had made significant inroads in apprehending individuals involved in high-profile cases, ensuring accountability and justice for the victims.

"These arrests have targeted persons involved in the commission of national priority offences including serious corruption, serious organised crime, serious commercial crime, fraud, money laundering, police killings, cash-in-transit robberies, illegal mining, damage to essential infrastructure, theft of fuel from the pipelines, drug trafficking, trafficking in persons and trafficking in endangered species," he said.

Lebeya explained that a total number of 182 convictions, including seven juristic persons, were secured, with 84 convictions emanating from Serious Organised Crime, 61 from Serious Commercial Crime and 37 from Serious Corruption.

He noted that of these convicts, 120 were South African, while 55 were foreign nationals.

The top convicted foreign nationals were Zimbabwean with 11, with Basotho and Mozambican nationals representing a total number of nine accused persons each.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is committed to working out a deal over posts in President Cyril Ramaphosa's cabinet, a party source close to the talks told Reuters on Friday, in response to reports that negotiations were at risk of collapse.

And a senior official on the negotiating team for Ramaphosa's African National Congress (ANC) said the coalition discussions were "almost done".

South African media had reported that a major disagreement between the pro-business DA and the ANC over the trade and industry portfolio had threatened to derail the collaboration between the two parties.

"We are still committed to honest and fair negotiations," the DA party source said.

"Our Federal Executive met yesterday late afternoon, early evening and it was resolved that we will continue to negotiate. So, at this point we are not at the point of drawing lines in the sand and giving final ultimatums."

A DA spokesperson said the party would communicate officially when negotiations were finalised.

The ANC, the legacy liberation movement of Nelson Mandela, and the white-led DA are the largest of the 10 parties in the government of national unity (GNU) that emerged after Ramaphosa's ANC lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid in an election last month.

Once unthinkable, the accord between the ANC and the DA allowed Ramaphosa to win a second term in office.

ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula, writing on X, sought to assuage fears of an impasse.

"Almost done with GNU discussions," he wrote. "It will be done as promised."

Financial markets are on edge over the composition of the cabinet as it will give an early indication of how the ANC intends to share power.

The rand strengthened sharply on Friday, reversing the previous day's losses, on optimism that the ANC and DA would iron out their differences in cabinet negotiations.

This week's disagreement stems from a decision by Ramaphosa to backtrack on an offer to give the DA the trade and industry minister's position, according to the News24 website and Business Day newspaper.

The trade ministry is seen as particularly significant because it oversees the government's flagship policy of boosting Black South Africans' participation in the economy, as well as the competition commission, which scrutinises mergers and acquisitions.

The DA wants to scrap some of the ANC's Black empowerment programmes, saying they have not worked and have mostly benefited a politically-connected elite.

Nonkululeko Sibiya, a political analyst studying at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, said the difficulties forming the cabinet showed how far apart the parties were ideologically.

While the unity government originally evoked memories of 1994 and the transition to democracy, Sibiya said, "now the real horse-trading has begun and people are fighting for ministerial positions, which makes it a very hostile environment".

The DA source told Reuters they understood the party's main focus to be receiving meaningful cabinet portfolios, rather than specifically getting trade and industry.

The political risk consultancy Eurasia Group said the DA was unlikely to withdraw from the unity government, even if its leaders were not fully satisfied with the portfolios they were given.

"The DA needs to prove to its base that it will at least attempt to take advantage of an opportunity to make an impact in government," Eurasia Group analysts wrote.

South Africa achieved its first primary budget surplus in 15 years as it took a stern approach to funding State-owned companies that have drained government finances.

Africa's most-industrialised economy posted a primary surplus - when revenue exceeds non-interest expenditure - of R31.6 billion or 0.4% of gross domestic product in the year through March 2024, data in the South African Reserve Bank's Quarterly Bulletin published on Thursday showed. That matched the National Treasury's February forecast.

"The decline in non-interest expenditure was driven by lower voted expenditure, largely owing to the sharp decline in payments for financial assets, reflecting government's limited recapitalisation of State-owned companies," the central bank said.

The data shows that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana held a firm line on funding to debt-stricken State companies like ports and railways operator Transnet, providing relief only if they meet strict conditions including implementing recovery plans and selling non-core assets. In his February budget, he provided no new bailouts to state firms.

The minister also reduced State power utility Eskom's debt-relief funds, after it failed to meet conditions attached to a R254-billion package it was granted last year that the company has been accessing in tranches.

The data will be welcomed by investors who've shunned South African assets because of its high debt levels. The country's debt-to-gross domestic product ratio of 74.1% is well above the emerging-market average of 58.9%, as is the nation's interest-to-GDP ratio.

One in every five rand of South African revenue goes to debt-service costs, which now absorb a larger share of the budget than basic education, social protection or health, the Treasury said in its February budget.

Plans by the Treasury to draw down on the nation's Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account and introduce a new binding fiscal anchor should moderate government debt. The Treasury expects it to stabilize at 75.3% of GDP in 2025-26.

The primary budget balance has been South Africa's main fiscal anchor since 2021.

Ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa's much anticipated Cabinet announcement, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) called on the Government of National Unity (GNU) to prioritise a targeted programme of reform that measurably improves policing over the next five years.

The ISS said it had been concerned, since 2012, by evidence that the South African Police Service's (Saps') organisational performance and general policing in South Africa were in a state of decline, highlighting that after more than a decade of rising murder rates, improving public safety was critical for the country's future.

Speaking during the launch of its report on recommendations to strengthen the Saps, ISS justice and violence prevention head Gareth Newham said he believed that a more effective Saps, that better uses its vast resources to improve public safety, was entirely possible.

South Africa has the necessary skills and resources, he said, and added that a Cabinet that prioritised improving the police, in line with the GNU priority to strengthen law enforcement agencies to address crime, was needed.

He noted that firearm crime and violence should be the initial focus of an Saps strategy to substantially reduce murder and violent organised crime.

The ISS said that, as with serious violent crime, the leaders behind the main organised crime networks constituted a small proportion of the population, highlighting that disrupting organised criminal networks required the targeted use of specialised intelligence, and forensic and investigative capabilities to trace illicit goods and money flows, and ensure that these kingpins ended up in prison.

"These capabilities already exist to some extent in the Saps. But they need to be strengthened through targeted measures aimed at ensuring that the good work that many Saps members are doing is effectively supported and replicated," explained Newham.

He said that the ability of the Saps to solve cases had declined across most crime categories for more than a decade, noting that 31% of murders were solved in 2012, while only a paltry 12% of murder cases were solved in 2023.

"This does not mean they are solving fewer cases, it means they are probably solving several cases but that murder cases are going up. The consequence is that the proportion of people who are involved in murdering people that get away with it, are increasing," he said.

He noted that the Saps must ensure that all detectives had the right characteristics, training and resources to solve cases and help the National Prosecuting Authority put those that commit the most harm in prison.

The ISS wants the Saps to review and structure its crime intelligence to ensure that its resources are effectively used and that proper intelligence is available to detectives, particularly those investigating organised crime and corruption.

It must ensure that irregular appointments were addressed and that there was no doubt about the integrity of any person deployed to crime intelligence, Newham said.

The ISS said the high levels of police corruption and criminality must also be addressed as a matter of urgency, calling for the establishment of dedicated disciplinary units that focussed on tackling police misconduct and ensuring expeditious processes for hearings and dismissals.

Newham said the Saps anti-corruption unit must be strengthened to have resources and capabilities not less than the unit that existed before its closure in 2002.

He said by reducing police corruption, the Saps could increase legitimacy and public support.

Newham said a modernised, digitised and skilled Saps was key, adding that the Saps must strengthen the overall quality of recruitment and focus skills needed at all levels, not only large numbers of boots on the ground.

Talks between South Africa's two biggest political parties on forming a cabinet stalled after the African National Congress (ANC) withdrew an offer to appoint a member of the smaller Democratic Alliance (DA) as trade and industry minister, people familiar with the matter said.

While the ANC offered to instead cede the tourism portfolio, the DA objected as the party sees it as a minor ministry, said the people who asked not to be identified as the negotiations are private.

The disagreement is delaying a deal over the appointment of ministers almost a month after the election cost the ANC its parliamentary majority for the first time. Still, negotiations on the cabinet were always expected to be difficult and it's anticipated that an agreement may yet be reached, the people said.

"We're not doing any comms on ongoing negotiations because things keep changing at any given point," DA national spokesperson Solly Malatsi said by phone. Calls to ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri didn't connect when Bloomberg sought comment.

The setback is the latest twist in talks that are being watched anxiously by investors. The DA had initially asked for about 10 ministerial posts, while the ANC had offered three, Bloomberg has previously reported. The two parties, which have been bitter opponents for decades, later settled on about six, with the DA wanting to be represented in the so-called economic cluster, which includes the trade and industry portfolio.

The six positions, including trade and industry, had been offered to the DA in writing by President Cyril Ramaphosa and accepted by DA leader John Steenhuisen, one of the people said. The ANC has irked the DA by pushing back on the number of posts the smaller party says it's entitled to after winning more than a fifth of the vote and by including smaller parties in the proposed government without consulting it, the people said.

The ANC has been under pressure from its labour-union allies not to cede trade and industry and instead push the DA toward tourism, public works and home affairs, another person said.

The unions would be willing to accept Ramaphosa appointing someone from outside politics - such as a business figure - to the post of trade and industry as they feel the DA may implement measures that could lead to job cuts, one of the people said.

Should the two parties come to an agreement, investors anticipate an acceleration of economic reforms needed to address the nation's energy crisis, fix its collapsing ports and railways, and reduce crime and corruption. The rand has whipsawed in recent days on speculation that talks between the ANC and the centrist Democratic Alliance have either moved closer to an agreement or further away.

While the talks have slowed, they are not at a deadlock and negotiations are expected to carry on for a few more days, the people said, stressing the intention to form a broad coalition government is still in place on both sides.

News24, a South African news site, reported earlier that the ANC had withdrawn the offer of a key ministry, without identifying it.

The rand fell as much as 1.3% and traded 1% weaker at 18.3568 by 10:58 am in Johannesburg.

The much-anticipated judgment in the Life Esidimeni Inquest will be delivered on July 10, by Judge Mmonoa Teffo of the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

The judgment was previously set down to be delivered on June 28.

The inquest was launched to determine the cause of the deaths of the 141 mental health care users who died after they were transferred from Life Esidimeni to unlicenced non-governmental organisations.

SECTION27 represented 44 mental healthcare users who died in conditions of extreme neglect, with many of them being emaciated, dehydrated and suffering from bed sores, it said.

At the inquest, SECTION27 argued that the former Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu, the former Director of Mental Health Directorate Dr Makgabo Manamela and the owner of Precious Angels non-governmental organisation should be charged with culpable homicide for their involvement in the tragic deaths of 141 mental health care users who were relocated from Life Esidimeni in 2015 and 2016.

SECTION27 explained that the court is also tasked with determining whether the conduct of any individual directly caused or contributed to these deaths.

It added that following the court's decision, the National Prosecuting Authority will decide on whether to pursue criminal prosecution.

SECTION27 said it recognised that the judgment cannot restore lost lives and dignity, but it carries the potential to enhance public confidence and reinforce accountability in governance.

"For the families of mental health care users who died after being transferred from Life Esidimeni, and indeed for the many people who have watched as the different legal processes relating to this case have unfolded over the past eight years, it has been a long wait for criminal accountability, and we look forward to Judge Teffo's decision," it said.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) on Wednesday called on Kenyan President William Ruto to immediately cease the violent suppression of protesters and engage in meaningful dialogue with Kenyan citizens.

This after protestors marched on Kenya's Parliament against new tax hikes and police officers escalated tensions by firing live rounds into crowds, leading to the deaths of 23 people and injuring more than 30 people.

The party also wants Ruto to withdraw the military and police from the streets, saying the voices of the people must be heard and respected, not silenced through bloodshed and intimidation.

The EFF noted that instead of de-escalating the conflict, the Kenyan government chose to exacerbate it by deploying police and had also chosen to deploy the army under "the guise of addressing a security emergency."

The party strongly condemned the brutal actions of the Kenyan police stating that the use of live ammunition on unarmed citizens was unacceptable and a blatant violation of human rights.

The EFF highlighted that Ruto's statements labelling some of protestors as criminals and threatening to counter the violence and anarchy demonstrated showed a profound disregard for the legitimate grievance of the Kenyan people.

"This oppressive response highlights the President's willingness to resort to deadly force to push through his Finance Bill, which clearly serves the interests of Western powers at the expense of his own citizens," said the EFF.

The party noted that it stood in solidarity with the Kenyans in their struggle against "oppressive governance and economic exploitation," saying it will continue to advocate for justice, peace and the fundamental rights of all African people.

The EFF wants those responsible for "the heinous acts" to be held accountable and that all detained protestors be released without delay.

South Africa's military said on Wednesday that a mortar attack on one of its bases in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo a day earlier had killed two people and injured 20 others.

South African troops are in Congo as part of a deployment by Southern African regional bloc SADC to help the government fight rebel groups.

"Four members who were critically injured have been hospitalised, whilst the rest who suffered minor injuries are expected to be discharged soon," the South African National Defence Force said in a statement.

In February another mortar attack on a South African base in Congo killed two and wounded three others. At the time President Cyril Ramaphosa hit back at opposition criticism that the South African contingent in Congo was ill-equipped.

The African National Congress (ANC) said on Tuesday in the spirit of sustaining constant communication, it would hold continuous engagements with the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa) on issues that affect them.

The party said in preparation for the upcoming national dialogue, it will work with Contralesa in all provinces on inputs regarding the role of traditional leaders in the Government of National Unity (GNU).

Last week the ANC said members of the GNU would soon host a national dialogue with the aim of getting consensus amongst South Africans as to some of the priority areas for the seventh administration.

The national dialogue process will seek to develop a national social compact that enables the country to meet the aspirations of the National Development Plan.

The Statement of Intent (SOl) signed by ten political parties commits the GNU parties "to an all-inclusive national dialogue process with parties, civil society, labour, business and other sectors".

According to the ANC, ten out of 18 parties with seats in the National Assembly have signed the SOI - ANC, Democratic Alliance, Inkatha Freedom Party, Patriotic Alliance; GOOD; Pan Africanist Congress of Azania; Freedom Front Plus; United Democratic Movement; Rise Mzansi and Al Jama-ah.

ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said the ANC noted that Contralesa had already put together a Working Group on the role of traditional leaders in the GNU.

At the meeting between ANC and Contralesa leaders at Luthuli House, held on Monday, the party reaffirmed that Contralesa was an important stakeholder that had been an integral part of the work of the ANC and society.

"The African National Congress appreciates the continued relationship with the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa which brings together traditional authorities who identify broadly with the liberation movement," said Bhengu-Motsiri.

She noted that in the spirit of organisational renewal, the ANC recommitted to working with traditional leaders in the interest of the movement and country at large.

Contralesa further committed themselves to encourage all political parties to embrace the "good faith intentions of the ANC" on the formation of the GNU in the national interest, the party said.