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The African Transformation Movement (ATM) has welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin's planned visit to the country, but has called on the South African government to state whether it will execute the international arrest warrant issued against him.

The party has asked the government for its position on the issue, given that Russia is not a signatory of the Rome Statute.

The South African government has requested a legal opinion on how to address the arrest warrant which the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued against Putin on 18 March for alleged war crimes related to the abduction of children from Ukraine.

South Africa will host the BRICS summit this year and as a signatory of the Rome Statute, could be required to execute the arrest warrant if Putin attends the summit in August.

The statute is the founding treaty of the ICC.

News4 previously reported that Putin addressed National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and a delegation of MPs during a recent visit to Russia amid the warrant having been issued.

Mapisa-Nqakula and National Council of Provinces chairperson Amos Masondo led a multiparty delegation to a conference hosted by the Russian state, themed "Russia-Africa in a Multipolar World."

In a statement, ATM said it would welcome Putin's arrival with "open arms" as they did with other heads of state.

ATM spokesperson Zama Ntshona said the party was awaiting a response from the South African courts to verify if the country would comply with the warrant of arrest.

The party also recommended that the government withdraw from the ICC due to the court's "biased approach".

Ntshona said, "It seems the ICC is focused on African leaders that it deems devious and any other leader that is not working to further the interests of the US and EU."

At a media briefing on 19 March, presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said that although the country respected international statutes, it could not "speculate" if Putin would be arrested should he be invited to the summit.

Last week, on the sidelines of the state visit by the Belgian royals at the Union Buildings, International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor said Cabinet has to "decide exactly how we would respond" to the warrant of arrest.

The Democratic Alliance has since called on President Cyril Ramaphosa not to invite Putin to the summit.

Other parties, including the Economic Freedom Fighters and African National Congress, said previously they did no want the warrant enforced.

The City of Cape Town will raise the feed-in tariff for households and businesses selling power back to its grid by 10.15%, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has said.

The mayor on Wednesday delivered Cape Town's budget speech before the council. The R69.9-billion budget targets spending in specific areas such as infrastructure, water and sanitation and energy.

The budget to end loadshedding over the next three years is R2.3-billion, he said.

"This amount includes R220-million over this three-year period on independent power purchases, as well as R288-million for our Power Heroes programme to incentivise Capetonians to use less power at peak times to help prevent loadshedding stages," Hill-Lewis said.

About R53-million of the budget will also go toward boosting the rollout of rooftop solar PV through the feed-in tariff. "Cape Town is also proud to be the first city in the country to offer households and businesses cash for their excess rooftop solar power. And I am pleased to announce that we are proposing to raise this feed-in tariff by 10.15%," Hill-Lewis said.

The current tariff approved by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa is 78.98c/kWh. The city's incentive (on top of the tariff) of 25c/kWh remains as it is.

"This makes solar even more attractive. We want as many residents and businesses as possible to help us end load shedding over time, and there are no limits to how much power you can sell us," Hill-Lewis said.

So far, the excessive load shedding and the city's own policy changes have seen a record amount of solar PV applications and installations.

January and February account for 11% of all solar PV applications since the city's records began in 2018. The solar PV installations that occurred during these two months also account for 10% of all installations in Cape Town in the past five years, News24 previously reported.

Last week during the Western Cape government's Digicon on the climate crisis, Hill-Lewis said that plans are afoot to bring down the price of the specialised meter that enables the feed-in of power to the grid. Prices go for around R13 000. There is also a meter-reading fee of R96.20 (applicable to the 2022/23 financial year) which covers the cost for the infrastructure to do the remote meter reading and then upload the data to the billing system, News24 previously reported.

The city has also budgeted R1-billion over the medium term to operate and maintain the Steenbras pumped-storage hydroelectric plant, which so far has been useful in shielding Cape Town residents from one stage of loadshedding.

"This is a critical part of the city's load shedding resilience, and the fact that this 44-year-old station performs so well is testament to the power of regular and thorough maintenance," Hill-Lewis said of the continued investment in Steenbras.

"Our capital expenditure on solar PV installations will amount to R636-million over the three years, and we have set aside R50-million for battery storage and R32-million for our waste-to-energy programme at landfills," the mayor added.

"We are confident that Cape Town will be the first metro to break free from the suffocating hold that Eskom has placed on our country, and in doing so, we will show that there is a bright electric light at the end of this Eskom tunnel."

Loadshedding cost the city R390-million in the current financial year. These are costs that go toward generators, fuel, security, overtime and losses due to theft, vandalism and lower electricity sales.

Bigger subsidies

Additionally, Cape Town will shield residents against Eskom's 18.49% increase for municipalities. This instead will be reduced to 17.6% as the City will absorb the extra cost. "I know that this is a small consolation, and it underscores how important it is to move away from Eskom dependency as fast as we possibly can," he said.

For low-income households, or "lifeline customers", subsidies for electricity will increase. The current threshold is 350 units, but this will be raised to...

The Hawks have raided the home and business premises of African National Congress (ANC) Ekurhuleni treasurer-general Sello Sekhokho as part of investigations into the R1-billion Tembisa Hospital tender scandal.

Sekhokho is a central figure in an alleged extraction scheme first discovered and reported by Babita Deokaran three weeks before she was murdered in August 2021.

Sekhokho has previously denied impropriety. Three companies owned by the ANC strongman have, in three years, seemingly scored contracts worth nearly R100-million from the Gauteng Department of Health.

They supplied everything from food to medical gear, while his security company did a roaring trade selling overpriced clothing, according to ledgers supplied by the department.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Gauteng Hawks spokesperson Captain Lloyd Ramovha said teams of detectives swooped in on the house in Bedfordview and offices in Germiston and Edenvale to execute a search and seizure warrant.

Sekhokho is not named in the statement, but impeccable sources - who spoke anonymously - confirmed that the businessman-cum-politician was the target of the operation.

"The action is informed by the ongoing investigation into alleged tender irregularities that resulted in approximately R1-billion rand being siphoned from the Gauteng Department of Health," said Ramovha.

"It is a sequel operation to the one that was executed at the Tembisa Hospital premises towards the end of 2022."

Last year, Hawks investigators seized mountains of documents and computers from the embattled Ekurhuleni hospital. Ramovha added that the Tembisa scheme "reportedly thrived by the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) infringement".

"This was made possible through tender manipulation, kickbacks, inflated prices and or duplicated invoices amongst other contraventions."

"Various electronic gadgets, as well as documentary proof, have been seized to allow for further investigation.

"No arrests have been affected at this stage, pending further investigation," he said.

When News24 approached Sekhokho for comment, he confirmed that detectives "were busy".

The story will be updated if a more substantial response is received.

Following the KwaZulu-Natal African National Congress’ (ANC’s) Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) meeting, party secretary Bheki Mtolo has lamented what he referred to as "reckless utterances" by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

Zondo recently said at the OR Tambo Public Lecture at Fort Hare that government had betrayed Tambo's values and ideals.

Mtolo said it was becoming clear that Zondo viewed himself as above everybody else in the country.

“He is a referee, a player, a goalkeeper, a linesman and assistant referee. All-in-one. He is the jack of all trade. He has descended to nothing else but a pure political charlatan that must be exposed of his true intentions. Maybe the time has come for us as the nation to ask if South Africa is not facing a judiciary capture because that would be the worst kind of State capture in our democracy,” Mtolo stated.

He believes it is strange and reckless for Zondo to use Tambo to attack other ANC leaders and the party.

“We do understand that all South Africans have political views but the Chief Justice should know better,” he said.

PEC MEETING OUTCOMES

Meanwhile, of focus at the PEC meeting were issues relating to job creation, employment and crime in the province.

Mtolo said that ANC structures and society at large needed to be integrally involved in the campaign to create safer neighbourhoods.

The organisation is satisfied with the progress made around loadshedding in the province since its last PEC meeting, which President Cyril Ramaphosa attended, where a call was made for Eskom to fulfil its obligation to supply electricity to ensure the socioeconomic wellbeing of all South Africans.

“We wish to acknowledge progress that has been made by the ANC government since that meeting with the President. We have noted Eskom’s efforts to ensure the energy availability factor (EAF) across all power stations,” Mtolo said.

He claimed that former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter and COO Jan Oberholzer failed dismally to do this.

He further said that the KZN province was still in support of the National Energy Crisis Committee to speed up the approval for the construction of new power plants.

The KZN ANC will hold its Provincial General Council (PGC) in May and as part of the preparations, Branch General Meetings (BGM) will be convened across all regions. Mtolo referred to the PGC as a political school which will help the ANC assess the road it has travelled and the impact it has had in leading and transforming society.

“As part of the BGMs, we expect ANC members in good standing to be involved in the nomination of candidates for Members of Parliament and provincial legislature. As we approach the PGC, we expect our members to conduct BGMs in a manner that strengthens unity and cohesion. In keeping with the culture and tradition of the movement, we want our structures to be involved in the election of leaders who will keep our movement on the right course. With that said, we call for more attention to be given to the branches to enable the organisation to continue to be the voice of the poor and the unemployed,” Mtolo said.

The PEC is also in agreement that ANC structures must focus on service delivery as the basis of political engagement.

“All programmes of service delivery and transformation of the economy require understanding and involvement of ANC structures and alliance partners. After all, the ANC was created to champion socioeconomic transformation for the benefit of indigenous people who were oppressed in the land of their own birth. We must take a stand that ensures that no one feels marginalised, isolated and prevented from taking part in the programmes of the congress movement,” Mtolo said.

The PEC has taken a resolution to undertake an audit of all branches to determine compliance with the ANC Constitution.

“Our main focus is to ensure that as the leader of society, communities on the ground are part and parcel of the ANC Programme of Action. No member of the ANC or alliance partners must feel th...

Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) executive director Ann Bernstein said on Tuesday that in the lead-up to the 2024 general election the focus should shift to ensuring that fixing schools is a key priority in the election campaign.

CDE launched a series of five reports on South Africa’s education system, noting that South Africa has a deep crisis.

Bernstein said the education system has been compromised by corruption, cadre deployment and too many incompetent staff members.

She highlighted that voters and the media needed to force political parties to inform voters on how they would deal with cadre deployment, corruption, accountability and other pertinent issues if the country was to drive schooling performance to higher levels.

She said government’s inability to meaningfully transform basic education was one of democratic South Africa’s most grievous failures and an appalling indictment of the country’s society.

“While the President talks of a ‘silent revolution’ when celebrating matric results, the majority of young people in our schools are not learning to read, write or add,” she said, adding that change requires the right diagnosis and political will.

Bernstein stated that South Africa has a weak State and an ineffective President, and needed a new Minister of Basic Education, director-general and top team at national and provincial levels tasked to urgently move South Africa off the bottom of international tables for mathematics, science and reading.

Bernstein argued that there was very little accountability in the country’s vast education system, and this was a primary reason for teacher underperformance.

“The President speaks of a ‘silent revolution’, while the Minister talks of a ‘system on the rise’. The truth is that we face a silent crisis in our schools. South Africa has one of the worst performing education systems in the world,” Bernstein said.

BIGGEST SHOCK

South Africa achieved improvements in learning outcomes between the early 2000s and mid-2010s but Bernstein noted that this hopeful trajectory had not been sustained.

She said South Africa’s comparative performance was shocking, referring to South Africa being last or in the bottom three countries on international tests.

“Many countries poorer than South Africa outperform us in these tests including Morocco, Egypt, Georgia, Kosovo and Albania. According to the World Bank, South Africa is the world’s biggest underperformer in education among countries with a similar gross domestic product per capita,” explained Bernstein.

She said Covid-19 hugely exacerbated the many challenges already faced by the country’s basic education system, explaining that the effects of the pandemic could be seen in learning losses of around a year’s worth of schooling. Today the average 10 year old knows less than the average nine year old before the pandemic, she said.

The impact of these learning losses, especially acute in the foundation years – grades 1 to 4 – would be felt for years to come, she warned.

She said four out of five teachers in public schools lacked the content knowledge and pedagogical skills to teach their subjects. In maths, for example, proficiency levels of South African teachers (41%) rank far below that of their peers in Kenya (95%) and Zimbabwe (87%).

Bernstein added that South Africa has the highest teacher absenteeism rate of all Southern African Development Community countries.

She said to tackle the root causes of underperformance, South Africa needs an honest diagnosis of the major challenges holding it back.

“The poverty of learners and their families, the challenging environments in which many schools are located as well as ongoing infrastructural deficits all play a role. However, the critical structural issues within the education system have to be addressed to fundamentally change the way teaching and learning take place in our classrooms,” she said.

Member of the House of Lords of the UK Lord Peter Hain believes South Africa is on its way to becoming a failed State and has warned that unless corrupt politicians and incompetent officials are removed, the downhill slide will continue.

Speaking during a PSG Konsult webinar, he noted that during his recent visit to South Africa he witnessed loadshedding, water cuts and inefficient service delivery.

He urged South Africans to stand up against corruption through a popular uprising but clarified that he was not suggesting an insurrection or lawless uprising.

He said all forms of corruption, no matter how small, should be exposed.

Hain revealed when people suggested there is nothing the public could do to push back against corruption, he advised them that they could refuse to pay bribes when asked by public officials.

He said businesses should also say no to paying bribes for government contracts.

“Unless you say no this will continue. If businesses say that we won’t pay the backhand then the corrupt politicians won’t get the money upon which they have been depending on,” he said and added that tough decisions needed to be taken.

He noted that what distinguished South Africa from failed States like Zimbabwe was that there was an independent opposition, judiciary and media who investigated and faced enormous intimidation and threats.

COALITIONS AND ELECTIONS

While he would not give advice on who citizens should vote for, he said South Africa needed a credible opposition to keep the governing party in check.

“Unfortunately the African National Congress (ANC), which I am associated with historically for half a century in the anti-apartheid struggle, has betrayed the legacy of [Nelson] Mandela, [Oliver] Tambo, [Walter] Sisulu and [Ahmed] Kathrada. [The ANC] needs to be held to account and it needs to know that if it carries on with the corruption and cronyism. because of the incompetence of people [who are] doing jobs [they are] simply not qualified [for], whether it is in Eskom or [in the] water system or Transnet, or South African Airways, what they are doing is bankrupting the country and that can’t continue,” he expressed.

Hain noted that, given the current politics in the country, he would not rule out coalitions.

However, he is concerned that young voters are no longer eager to head to the polls.

He pointed out that Mandela and other anti-apartheid giants spent the best years of their lives to get the right to vote and he said if that right was not exercised, “you are betraying those values and the struggle which involved enormous sacrifice, hardship, death, torture, banishment and exile and all those things that we know about apartheid and history. To lose the vote and not to use the vote is a betrayal of that tradition.”

He added that by not exercising the democratic right to vote South Africans were depressing the voter turnout but not necessarily changing anything.

He asserted that the average citizen had some power and he encouraged South Africans to go and vote in their numbers in the upcoming election.

Meanwhile, he noted that the millions being spent on commissions of inquiries was proof that South Africa was still functioning in a constitutional democracy.

He said while it was frustrating for most people that the law enforcement system was hollowed out, he commended those who were standing up to corruption.

Hain said whistleblowers were dying to do the right thing and urged support and protection for them, as well as a clean-up of the policing system.

“Keep pressing the politicians, the President included, to do much better,” he said.

Freedom Front Plus MPL Peter Marais has refused to apologise for comments made during a sitting of the Western Cape legislature earlier this month, in which he referred to African National Congress (ANC) members as "foreigners".

Speaker of the legislature, Daylin Mitchell, was unable to give a ruling immediately after the comments were made because the audio recordings and transcripts were not available.

During the previous sitting, Marais caused a stir when he said: "We call for the empowerment of coloured and Khoi emerging farmers in this province, entrepreneurs, and indigent households who are on housing waiting lists, as these minorities who are neglected and who received very little benefits in terms of the labour equity laws and housing, and having to compete against numerically and superior African blacks whose influx to the Western Cape has changed the demographics of the province."

"Racial tensions are increasingly building up. We call on the Western Cape government to take remedial action to prevent racial tension from escalating and flaring up because of a fight for scarce resources by the influx," he added.

Chaos ensued after ANC members took issue with his remarks which, in turn, prompted Marais to call the ANC members "foreigners".

Mitchell ruled on Monday that the comments were "highly offensive, unparliamentary and in bad taste."

"I have now had the opportunity to peruse through the transcribed extract of the proceedings of the 9th of March. I wish to rule as follows. In the prepared member's statement, honourable Marais articulated and contextualised from his perspective and that of the party he belongs to, I presume, what is happening in the province, as far as certain challenges facing minorities are concerned," he said.

Mitchell added that he found no fault in the context.

"However, when the honourable Marais, in an interjection, declared that 'you are foreigners' when responding to members representing the ANC, what could be argued to be under provocation, repeats this statement and becomes problematic and cannot be tolerated," he said.

Mitchell added that Marais' comments had exceeded the boundaries of free speech.

"I call on honourable Marais to withdraw the word foreigners and apologies to the house," he said.

However, Marais refused to apologise.

He intends to challenge Mitchell's ruling.

He remarked during the sitting, "Everything that has been flung at me you have not been privy to."

Mitchell requested for a second time that Marais withdraw his remarks.

"I am not withdrawing. I am stating a historical fact. I can prove this," he said.

Mitchell then asked Marais to leave the chamber.

He complied, hurling insults at Mitchell along the way.

"You'll never be respected while you bend to them (the ANC)," he said as he walked.

President Cyril Ramaphosa argued on Monday that expanding the social wage is not simply an indication that more people need grants today than before, as some have tried to suggest.

Ramaphosa wrote in his weekly letter to the nation that in the past, many of the poor, including working age adults who were unemployed, simply did not receive any support.

He said South Africa’s world-renowned social protection system provided important benefits for many in society, not only those who receive social grants.

Ramaphosa noted that the country’s social protection system supported economic growth from the bottom up, enabled business activity, and strengthened social solidarity and stability.

It was one of the greatest achievements of the country’s democratic society, and one that citizens should all be proud of, he added.

He highlighted that the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant that was introduced in 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic had reached more than 11-million people at its peak, and had lifted millions of people out of food poverty.

Ramaphosa explained that 50% of the purchases made by SRD grant recipients were groceries.

He noted that social grants also acted as a stimulus for the economy as a whole, increased spending in townships and rural areas, and improved employment outcomes.

He highlighted that an interview-based study by the University of Johannesburg of informal traders in the Johannesburg CBD, Orange Farm, Mthatha, Mqanduli and Warwick Junction in Durban, found that the SRD grant stimulated customer spending, provided capital to purchase stock, and enabled the new businesses to be initiated.

Informal traders and SRD grant recipients in Philippi in the Western Cape also told researchers that it had a positive impact on their businesses, he said.

According to another recent study by researchers at the University of Cape Town the SRD grant also increased the probability of recipients searching for jobs and gaining employment.

Similarly, Ramaphosa said many participants in the Presidential Employment Stimulus Initiative (PESI) have gone on to find work after they have completed the programme.

The school assistants programme has provided opportunities for 750 000 young people to date in over 22 000 schools, reaching every corner of the country.

Over 72% of participants in the PESI said that having gained their first work experience, the programme helped them to gain a foothold in the labour market thereafter, Ramaphosa explained.

He said it was now well recognised that inequality constrained growth, and that growth which took place in unequal societies tended to reproduce those patterns of inequality.

He added that this was the reason why the country’s economic policy was guided by the need to implement structural reforms to stimulate growth and enhance the country’s economic competitiveness, while also expanding social protection and public employment and supporting the social wage.

Days ahead of the Democratic Alliance's (DA's) elective conference, the leadership race is picking up steam - and, on Monday, a debate is to take place between John Steenhuisen and Mpho Phalatse.

Phalatse and Steenhuisen emerged as candidates for the leadership race after nominations were closed at the end of February.

Steenhuisen, who is seeking a second term, was expected to debate Phalatse during a closed-door debate on Monday.

The debate, expected to be streamed internally in the party, will offer the two candidates one of the last remaining chances to woo voting delegates.

Steenhuisen has campaigned on a message of continuity in the party's growth, saying he was prepared to lead the DA into a post-ANC South Africa.

Phalatse's campaign has focused on illuminating Steenhuisen's weaknesses as a leader - who, according to her analysis, was unable to attract the support of most citizens.

The former Joburg mayor said the DA had to take the need for broader citizens' support seriously, if it planned to increase its voting share in the 2024 elections.

Meanwhile, the DA's Solly Malatsi got a considerable endorsement boost when the mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, backed his candidacy for the deputy federal chairperson position.

Hill-Lewis is a respected and highly-liked party member, who some consider to be a likely candidate for DA leader in the future.

Malatsi is up against several people, including former DA Eastern Cape leader Nqaba Bhanga and DA MP Natasha Mazzone.

The list also includes Jean-Pierre Smith, a Cape Town councillor, who Hill-Lewis could have easily backed as they work closely together.

Malatsi indicated that he was best-suited for the deputy federal chairperson position because he could reach across political lines and engage and work with civil society.

The DA released a draft programme for its congress, which officially kicks off on Saturday.

The first day will see speeches by Steenhuisen, and there will be a significant focus on constitutional amendments.

Voting for the leadership position will take place on Sunday, along with the presentation of the financial and organisational reports.

The announcement of the election results is expected on Sunday afternoon.

DA voting delegates will elect a party leader, federal chairperson and three deputy federal chairpersons.

Besides the leadership contest, the DA congress will shed light on the party's 2024 national and provincial election plans.

Key takeaways from the congress will be the decisions on policy issues, which the party will take on the campaign trail.

Public interest law organisation Section27, in partnership with centre for Child Law (CCL), on Friday launched the Michael Komape sanitation progress monitor tool to track the Limpopo Department of Education’s (LDoE’s) progress in eliminating unsafe and undignified sanitation at public schools in the province through the installation of safe and decent sanitation facilities.

The sanitation progress monitor is named after Michael Komape, a five-year-old learner who drowned in a pit toilet at his school, in Limpopo, in 2014.

In response to his death and that of several other learners who fall into school pit toilets, the tool was launched.

The most recent case involves three-year-old Langalam Viki, whose lifeless body was discovered in a pit latrine toilet in a public school, in the Eastern Cape, earlier this month.

Section27 Education Rights Programme legal researcher Motheo Brodie explained that the tool is another step taken in the interest of justice and protecting the rights of learners in public schools.

The tool combines all the data provided by the LDoE, in their revised plans to eradicate inadequate sanitation in the province, and Section27’s biannual progress reports to the high court since December 2021.

Section27 noted that as of January this year, data provided by the LDoE revealed that over 65 940 learners, from 210 schools in the Limpopo province, rely exclusively on pit toilets.

“That slightly improved from data supplied by the LDoE in December 2021, where 116 299 learners from 363 schools relied on pit toilets. These are 153 schools (42% of the original 363 priority one schools - which are schools with pit toilets only) where work is reported to be completed or where toilets are considered adequate,” Brodie noted.

The sanitation progress monitor tracks the number of basic pit toilets and number of toilets required to meet norms and standards. It also tracks the number of existing appropriate toilets and the backlog number of toilets required.

Section27 and CCL want the public, learners, parents, schools, communities, media and other stakeholders to use the tool to collectively put pressure on the LDoE and hold the department to account.

Media group Media Hack director Laura Grant explained that the information provided by the sanitation progress monitor is the most up-to-date information, as provided by the LDoE, and will be updated every six months, or whenever new data bundles are submitted to the court.

The LDoE has until March 31 to replace pit toilets from all priority one schools that rely only on pit toilets in the province. The original deadline for this was six years ago.

The tool has a countdown clock that shows the time remaining until March 31 deadline.

“By this deadline, the number of schools with pit toilets only should be zero. If there are still priority one schools with pit toilets after the deadline, the countdown click will show the number of days and hours over the deadline.”

Brodie noted that the tool ensures transparency and archives the many years of work done by Section27 and the broader civil society in holding the government to account.

Meanwhile, Section27 senior attorney Demichelle Petherbridge explained that the Michael Komape sanitation progress monitor tool does not only cater for schools in Limpopo, other provinces are also welcome to share with the organisation information about inadequate sanitations in schools and the system will update the data accordingly.