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The Inclusive Society Institute (ISI) has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to refer the Electoral Amendment Bill to the Constitutional Court for a decision on its constitutionality before signing it into law.

The National Assembly passed the controversial bill, necessitated by a Constitutional Court ruling that independent candidates must be allowed to stand in provincial and national elections, on 23 February.

Ramaphosa is yet to sign the bill, despite the Constitutional Court's suspension of its order of invalidity on the Electoral Act to 28 February, after Parliament approached it twice for extensions.

In a statement, the institute says it has written to Ramaphosa to raise its concerns about the bill and has submitted legal opinions that the bill may not pass constitutional muster in its current form.

"The ISI has participated fully in the public hearings of both the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, laying out in detail their concerns with the Bill. The Institute believes that the Bill treats independent candidates unfairly, giving an advantage to candidates from political parties. While the legislature has mitigated some of their concerns, in other areas, the institute feels that the Bill remains unconstitutional," reads the statement.

"If the Bill is signed into law, the ISI may be faced with a moral and ethical dilemma as to whether to knowingly sit back and allow for an election to take place in terms of unconstitutional legislation or challenge its validity. The ISI believes that this challenge could create logistical problems for the execution of a timeous, free, and fair election, given the timeframe ahead of the 2024 election."

The institute, which has several ANC-aligned people on its board and advisory council, has called on Ramaphosa "to take a prudent approach and carefully consider the constitutionality of the Bill before signing it into law".

"The institute urges the president to exercise his rights in line with Section 84(2)(c) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa by referring the Bill to the Constitutional Court for a decision on its constitutionality," it said.

The bill has faced much criticism from various civil society organisations, which has mooted litigation since it was put to the vote for the first time in the National Assembly in October last year. A general concern is that the bill does not allow a mixed constituency-proportional list system.

After the National Assembly passed the bill, the National Council of Provinces made further changes. Chief among the changes is a clause providing for the establishment of a panel of experts to consider more comprehensive electoral reform than what the current bill provides for.

This required an extension of the deadline to 28 February.

In its 11 June 2020 ruling, the apex court declared the Electoral Act unconstitutional "to the extent that it requires that adult citizens may be elected to the National Assembly and provincial legislatures only through their membership of political parties".

The Constitutional Court suspended the declaration of unconstitutionality for "24 months to afford Parliament an opportunity to remedy the defect giving rise to the unconstitutionality".

This means the initial deadline to pass the legislation was 10 June 2022.

Parliament initially deferred working on the amendment to the Department of Home Affairs, and the bill was only introduced to Parliament in January 2022.

The Constitutional Court extended the deadline for the bill's enactment to 10 December after Parliament approached the apex court for a deadline extension when it became clear it would not reach the original cut-off date.

Following his explosive allegations about corruption at Eskom, the power utility's former CEO, André de Ruyter, will be invited to state his case to Parliament's finance watchdog.

On Wednesday, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) met to deliberate on a proposal by African National Congress (ANC) MP Bheki Hadebe, also a member of Scopa, to invite De Ruyter to explain the corruption at Eskom.

The committee acceded to Hadebe's request, and it was agreed that the committee would look at establishing an inquiry to thoroughly investigate the extent of corruption and mismanagement.

Hadebe argued that the rampant corruption at Eskom was far too severe for the committee to ignore.

It is still unclear if De Ruyter will be part of the inquiry or whether he will appear before the committee prior to the establishment of the inquiry.

By next week, MPs will have to develop draft terms of reference for the inquiry into Eskom and, from there, pave a way forward.

Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said the committee was convinced that there was complete rot at Eskom.

"Mr De Ruyter has made public utterances which are opening an opportunity for us to further look into those things. I am not aware of any minister in particular, but we know that ministers in one way or the other are involved," he said.

During an explosive interview with eNCA journalist Annika Larsen last month, De Ruyter disclosed that he had told a Cabinet member about high-end politicians and sabotage at Eskom, led by four crime cartels.

Parliament's legal advisor Fatima Ebrahim told the committee that there were parallel processes on the go.

"If Scopa is going to spearhead this, the committee can appoint an evidence leader to pull everything together. These are allegations that span over a number of years, and it is complex allegations, and the amounts that are being spoken of are huge," she said.

"Scopa must bear in mind what the end goal is, which is not simply to conduct oversight, but its to ensure that these sort of matters are prevented in future."

At one point, there was a heated exchange between Economic Freedom Fighters MP Nazier Paulsen and the ANC's Sakhumzi Somyo over allegations that ministers had been involved in corruption at Eskom.

A week after he was elected Tshwane mayor, Murunwa Makwarela was removed from the position because he couldn't prove that he wasn't insolvent.

A letter written by Tshwane City manager Johann Mettler, directed to the IEC in Gauteng, confirms that a vacancy has been created for the mayoral position after Congress of the People (Cope) councillor Makwarela was disqualified because of insolvency status.

Mettler's letter stated: "Dr Makwarela was elected to the position of executive mayor of Tshwane on 28 February. The disqualification is in terms of Section 158 (1) (c) of the Constitution, also read with Section 47 (1) (c) of the Constitution. The disqualification is also in terms of Schedule 1 of the Municipal Structures Act."

City of Tshwane's head of communications, Selby Bokaba, said there had been engagements between Mettler and Makwarela on the status of his insolvency.

Makwarela was required to produce evidence that a court had cleared him, but it seemed he could not do so.

This means for a second time, Tshwane has no mayor.

Mettler's letter also indicated that the law allowed the represented party, Cope, to show which person is "at the top of the applicable party list to be elected in the vacancy".

However, Makwarela is the only councillor representing Cope in the Tshwane council.

Makwarela was elected with the support of the African National Congress (ANC) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EF). His election was also supported by eight councillors from the Democratic Alliance-led coalition, which holds the majority in the Tshwane council.

The DA candidate, Cilliers Brink, lost to Makwarela, an outcome which angered the party and its coalition partners, ActionSA, African Christian Democratic Party, Freedom Front Plus and the Inkatha Freedom Party.

The coalition partners suggested the ANC and the EFF had bribed the eight councillors to break party ranks and support Makwarela's election.

EFF Tshwane regional chairperson Obakeng Ramabodu told News24 that removing Makwarela was a speed bump but not the end of the road. He said that even if a new mayoral election was called "tomorrow", the EFF had a plan.

"We are not worried, and we have a plan B. We still have our numbers intact. Whatever the DA wants to do, it's too late," Ramabodu said.

Cope spokesperson Dennis Bloem said the party would hold an urgent meeting to deal with Makwarela's removal. He declined to outline a way forward.

Makwarela was not available for comment despite numerous attempts by News24 to reach him.

South Africa's economy contracted more than expected in the last quarter of 2022, as an escalation in rolling power cuts contributed to most sectors from agriculture to mining shrinking.

The data means South Africa could be heading for recession and highlights the damage that the worst electricity outages on record are doing to Africa's most industrialised economy.

It prompted the rand to extend losses against the dollar.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday appointed a new electricity minister as part of a cabinet reshuffle that he hopes will improve service delivery and shore up the governing party's support ahead of a general election next year.

Figures from Statistics South Africa showed gross domestic product contracted 1.3% in the fourth quarter compared to the previous three months in seasonally adjusted terms.

Analysts had predicted a 0.4% contraction in the October-December period.

Statistics South Africa revised third quarter growth to 1.8% quarter on quarter, from a previous estimate of 1.6%, but the country will tip into recession - defined as two consecutive quarters of falling GDP - if it contracts again in the current quarter.

Seven of the 10 industries tracked by Statistics South Africa shrank in October to December, with agricultural output falling 3.3% quarter on quarter, mining 3.2%, finance 2.3%, trade 2.1% and manufacturing 0.9%.

Struggling state electricity utility Eskom's scheduled power cuts, caused by breakdowns at its ageing fleet of coal-fired power plants, have meant up to 10 hours a day without power in recent months, hurting businesses of all sizes.

After 2.0% economic growth for 2022 as a whole, South Africa's economy is now 0.3% bigger than it was in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic, Stats SA said, adding that the expansion was smaller than a 3.5% rise in the country's population over the same period.

Gross domestic product grew 0.9% year on year in the fourth quarter, worse than forecasts for a 2.2% expansion.

The South African Revenue Services (Sars) on Tuesday said President Cyril Ramaphosa and his companies - Ntaba Nyoni Estate, and Ntaba Nyoni Feedlot - "are compliant with their tax obligations to date."

Sars Commissioner Edward Kieswetter made the announcement following "considerable public interest and concern" in the president's affairs.

This followed the revenue service's announcement that Hazim Mustafa, the Sudanese businessman who paid $580 000 in cash to Ramaphosa's Phala Phala farm, did not declare the money he brought into the country in December 2019.

The money is subject to a probe by the Public Protector.

The corruption trial of former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede and her 21 co-accused started on Monday, almost two years after they were first charged.

The matter started just before midday, following several delays in the morning.

It was delayed by an hour after officials in court said they would break for tea from 10:45 to 11:00. The case was supposed to begin at 10:00.

Two of the accused, who could not be present in court for health reasons, were connected virtually.

Gumede appeared calm and collected in the dock, as she cracked jokes with her lawyer and co-accused.

The State kicked off the case by detailing the charges against each of the accused.

Supporters cannot afford daily trips to court

Commenting on whether Gumede's backers would attend court daily, Ntando Khuzwayo, a spokesperson and coordinator for Gumede's supporters, said: "They will not necessarily be here every day. Especially for individual supporters who are catching a taxi from Umlazi and Inanda. It is a lot of money. So, I don't think it will be an everyday thing."

Khuzwayo said he was hopeful that the trial would "finally get going".

"There have been major delays in this case for about five years, and we hope it can get under way today (Monday)."

When asked about Gumede's political future if she was found not guilty, Khuzwayo said it was hard to predict.

"The future in politics is unpredictable. She enjoys a lot of support and got elected when she was sitting on a couch, so that is the type of person we are talking about."

South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) spokesperson Thulani Gamede said they were in court to support Gumede because they believed in her leadership.

"She is a great cadre who believes in economic transformation. We hope she will come out clean and continue to do the good work she has always done and will continue to do as a leader in society. I strongly believe she is innocent, until proven otherwise," he said.

According to senior State advocate Ashika Lucken, Gumede would give instructions to her co-accused, who included deputy head of strategic and new developments at Durban Solid Waste, Robert Abbu; chairperson of the eThekwini bid adjudication committee (BAC), Sandile Ngcobo; former ANC councillor Mondli Mthembu; and former City manager Sipho Nzuza.

Gumede, Nzuza, Abbu and Ngcobo were the main roleplayers who "formed an enterprise", according to the indictment.

Most of the more than R300-million that was siphoned from the City would eventually land in the coffers of Gumede herself or be distributed to favoured councillors and community-based contractors (CBCs).

The funds even benefitted the likes of the uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans' Association, the State's indictment read.

South Africa’s trade minister has been appointed as a lawmaker, giving President Cyril Ramaphosa more flexibility when it comes to revamping his executive.

Under South African law, the president can name two people who aren’t members of parliament to his cabinet. Those positions were occupied by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, who was made a lawmaker last week, and Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel, who was sworn in on Monday.

Pemmy Majodina, the governing African National Congress’s chief whip in the legislature, confirmed Patel’s swearing-in. The changes suggest Ramaphosa will retain both Godongwana and Patel as ministers when he announces changes to his cabinet at 7 p.m., and assign one or two posts to people who aren’t members of the National Assembly.

Among the positions Ramaphosa has to fill is that of deputy president, after David Mabuza resigned last week. That role is traditionally given to the ANC’s deputy leader, a post occupied by Paul Mashatile.

The president is also expected to name a new electricity minister, who will be tasked with overseeing the government’s response to an energy crisis that’s led to record blackouts. Among those considered for the position are Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, who heads up the infrastructure department in the presidency and isn’t in parliament.

Ramaphosa also needs to fill a vacancy in the public service and administration ministry, and name a replacement for Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, who is now the ANC’s secretary-general.

South African tax authorities were not able to find any record that Hazim Mustafa, the Sudanese businessman who paid $580 000 in cash to President Cyril Ramaphosa's Phala Phala farm, declared the cash he brought into the country in December 2019.

Democratic Allince (DA) leader John Steenhuisen filed a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) request with the South African Revenue Service (SARS) in December 2022. Steenhuisen asked for a copy of the declaration form after Mustafa produced a document that he showed journalists in an interview with Sky News, but would not hand it over.

On 5 March, SARS responded to Steenhuisen, stating that the tax service was satisfied that after it had taken reasonable steps to find the record, it concluded that the record either did not exist, or it could not be found.

In terms of PAIA, SARS also attached an affidavit by the responsible official, in this case legal specialist: corporate legal services Siyabonga Nkabinde, who had searched for the records.

"On or around 17 January 2023, I commenced engagements with relevant various business units within SARS that I believed may be in custody of and/or be in possession of and/or have knowledge of the record requested," Nkabinde's affidavit read.

"[I] was advised that pursuant to the search for the record in various SARS Passenger Processing Systems, the record could not be found and/or may not be in existence," the affidavit continued.

Mustafa claimed the document was a copy of the declaration he completed upon landing at OR Tambo International Airport. Mustafa said he handed over $580 000 in cash to an employee of Ramaphosa's Phala Phala farm on Christmas Day in 2019.

The money was handed to Sylvester Ndlovu who, Ramaphosa has claimed, moved the money out of a safe in the main building on the farm and stashed it under sofa cushions in the president's house.

In the early hours of 9 February 2020, burglars gained access to the property and made off with an undisclosed amount of dollars. The burglary was kept secret until July 2022, when former State Security Agency director-general Arthur Fraser reported a criminal case to Rosebank police station and accused Ramaphosa and his head of security, Major General Wally Rhoode, of a cover-up.

It was recently revealed that Ndlovu, who took the money from Mustafa, was recently employed at a lodge part-owned by Fraser's niece, Geraldine Moleketi-Williams, News24 previously revealed.

Mustafa broke his silence in the wake of a report by a Section 89 panel appointed by Parliament and headed by retired chief justice Sandile Ngcobo. The panel had to determine whether or not the president had a case to answer. Mustafa claimed that he had been in South Africa to look for a house to buy.

Instead, he ended up buying buffaloes that according to Ramaphosa had "undesirable breeding traits". News24 reported that the buffaloes remained on the farm nearly two years after Mustafa handed over the cash.

The Ngcobo report was damning of Ramaphosa. The panel found that a full parliamentary investigation should proceed but the ANC used its majority in the National Assembly to quash any chance of a committee being established.

News24 reported that Ramaphosa was on the brink of resigning after the Ngcobo report was released. Last week, the Constitutional Court denied his application for direct access to the court to challenge the report.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Friday the nation has a right to know the name of the Minister implicated in Eskom corruption ahead of the long-awaited Cabinet reshuffle, and the party wants President Cyril Ramaphosa to come clean about the information he knew.

Last month, former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter dropped a bombshell during a television interview saying there were high-level African National Congress (ANC) politicians and Ministers involved in the corruption at the ailing State-owned enterprise.

“The nation has a right to know who these implicated Ministers are, especially ahead of the long-awaited Cabinet reshuffle. And they have a right to expect that swift action will be taken to arrest these perpetrators and end the corruption and sabotage that is plunging their businesses into bankruptcy and their lives into darkness and despair,” said DA leader John Steenhuisen.

Ramaphosa postponed an ANC meeting on Thursday, which was meant to finalise his Cabinet appointments, further delaying the appointment of the much-talked-about Minister of Electricity.

Steenhuisen pointed to news reports on Friday, which revealed that amid calls by the ANC for De Ruyter to go to law enforcement with information, the former CEO had actually briefed Ramaphosa’s national security advisor Sydney Mufamadi and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, in the presence of one of Gordhan’s advisors, at Eskom’s head office in the past.

“It is not possible that Ramaphosa would not have been briefed by a single one of these Ministers who report directly to him. It is therefore clear that Ramaphosa has known about the identities of these Ministers in his Cabinet for a full eight months, and that he has therefore not only lied to the nation, but has seriously compromised himself and let the nation down yet again,” Steenhuisen said.

As a result, he said it's even more of a reason for the DA to be granted its request for an urgent ad hoc parliamentary committee to investigate De Ruyter’s dismaying allegations.

President Cyril Ramaphosa postponed announcing changes to his executive on Thursday due to ill health.

News24 understands that he was meant to meet with African National Congress (ANC) officials at midday on Thursday to finalise new appointments to his Cabinet, but the meeting was called off at the eleventh hour.

The final consultations were set to occur at Mahlamba Ndlopfu - the president's official residence in Pretoria.

Two insiders who were close to discussions said that ANC officials were told that Ramaphosa had a cold and that the talks had been indefinitely called off.

"They were told by the ANC SG [Fikile Mbalula] that the president has a cold and that they would not meet as expected," a well-placed source said.

Ramaphosa is said to have been unwell since Monday, when he hosted Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

He is under pressure to fill vacancies in his executive, including the deputy president position, and select the new electricity minister he announced in his State of the Nation Address (SoNA).

Ramaphosa was due to meet ANC alliance partners to inform them of his final decision following weeks of consultation.

He was also supposed to have had a separate meeting with ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile, who is likely to become the next deputy president of the country following the resignation of David Mabuza from government.

"He told them he could not meet because he has a cough, and so he postponed," a second insider with knowledge of the matter said.

They said all indications were that Ramaphosa would now announce changes to his executive on Sunday.

Everything was set for him to make the announcement on Thursday, with ministers who were scheduled to host press briefings to expand on the commitments made by Ramaphosa in his SoNA postponing their briefings.

On Wednesday, GCIS sent out two media advisories of press briefings, that were supposed to be held on Thursday - one by Ministers Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Thulas Nxesi and another by Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa and Environment Minister Barbara Creecy. They were postponed indefinitely.

Mashatile told journalists that Ramaphosa would make changes to his Cabinet in the coming days.