Polity.org.za Audio Articles

The African National Congress (ANC) has settled on newly elected Free State chairperson Mxolisi Dukwana as its preferred premier candidate after Sisi Ntombela's resignation as premier.

In a letter dated 21 February, addressed to ANC Free State secretary Polediso Motsoeneng, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said that given the vacancy that would arise from the resignation of Ntombela, national officials were "of the view that comrade Mxolisi Dukwana is the preferred ANC candidate for the position of premier of the Free State".

News24 understands that the three premier candidates were interviewed on Friday after the provincial ANC decided to recall Ntombela at its recently held lekgotla. Despite being told of the decision two weeks ago, a reluctant Ntombela only handed in her resignation on Monday. She has also resigned from the provincial legislature.

In the letter to Motsoeneng, Mbalula said all three candidates – Dukwana, deputy provincial chairperson Ketso Makume, and deputy secretary Dibolelo Mahlatsi – were of a high calibre and had the potential to play meaningful roles in several spheres of government. He added that national ANC officials were confident that Dukwana was most suited for the position.

The ANC in the Free State is expected to announce Dukwana as its preferred premier candidate imminently.

Despite numerous attempts, News24 was unable to get confirmation from the Free State legislature spokesperson about when the vote for the next premier would take place. This is despite the province's State of the Province Address being scheduled for next week.

The DA in the Free State welcomed Ntombela's resignation, saying she had nothing to show after nearly five years in office.

"Since the former premier was elected to office in 2018, conditions in the Free State have continued to regress, and residents of the province continue to bear the impact of poor ANC leadership," said DA provincial leader Roy Jankielsohn.

He added that Ntombela's resignation created "a leadership crisis within the Free State provincial government a week before the State of the Province Address, for which costs have already been incurred".

"While the ANC continues with their factional battles in the province, services and the economy continue to decline under the additional burden of load shedding," Jankielsohn said.

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen said on Wednesday that his party would make an urgent request under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) for Eskom management to reveal the name of an African National Congress (ANC) MP who is allegedly involved in corruption at embattled State-owned enterprise.

In a recent interview, outgoing Eskom CEO André de Ruyter stated that a high-level ANC MP was behind the looting at Eskom.

He said the ANC views Eskom as “a feeding trough” and added that he had pointed out to a Cabinet Minister “that there was one particular high-level politician that was involved in this.”

De Ruyter explained that instead of taking his claim seriously, the Minister apparently said “I guess it was inevitable that this would come out anyway”, indicating that the ANC is well aware of the person's identity.

Steenhuisen said in the interests of accountability, transparency and combating ANC corruption, which he said was responsible for the loadshedding crisis, the party’s PAIA request would compel Eskom management to not only make public the name of the senior ANC politician concerned, but would also compel it to hand over all information and evidence regarding the ANC’s alleged involvement in corruption at Eskom.

The DA urged Eskom management to comply with its request for information and Steenhuisen insisted the party would use all means at its disposal to get to “the bottom of the criminal ANC syndicate behind Eskom corruption”.

“Should this information be verified through our PAIA request, De Ruyter’s revelations will provide inconvertible proof that the ANC stands as accused number one for the collapse of the South African electricity system and the suffering this inflicts on the 60-million people of this country,” he said.

African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General Fikile Mbalula has confirmed that Free State Premier Sisi Ntombela informed him on Monday that she intended to resign on Tuesday.

Mbalula addressed the media on Tuesday on the outcomes of a special national executive committee meeting on Monday. However, he said coming into the briefing that he had yet to receive Ntombela's resignation letter.

News24 has learned that Ntombela, who lost out as chairperson at the recently held ANC Free State elective conference, handed over her resignation letter, on Tuesday, to the newly elected provincial executive committee.

Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Cilliers Brink is the party's preferred candidate for Tshwane mayor.

News24 understands, from sources close to the coalition, that Brink was presented as the final candidate at a meeting the DA and its coalition partners held on Tuesday.

It is understood that DA leader John Steenhuisen presented Brink's name.

Former mayor Randall Williams resigned last week, forcing the DA and its coalition partners to seek a replacement.

According to the coalition agreement, the DA holds the prerogative when it comes to the candidate who should be selected as mayor.

The party interviewed eight of its members for the role and Brink was chosen, News24 was told.

Brink currently serves as a member of Parliament and a spokesperson for the DA on cooperative governance and traditional affairs.

He served as a councillor in Tshwane before moving to Parliament in 2019.

He also served as a mayoral committee member in Tshwane between 2016 and 2018 when the DA governed the metro.

News24 understands that most of the DA's coalition partners confirmed their willingness to support Brink but were stern on reservations about service delivery priorities.

Brink still needs to win most of the support from the Tshwane council before he can be elected.

It remains to be seen when a new mayor will be elected.

On Tuesday, Tshwane Speaker Murunwa Makwarela said a date for the election of a new mayor for Tshwane would be finalised soon.

Williams resigned on 13 February but changed it so that the resignation only becomes effective on 28 February.

The former mayor appointed the City's now former MMC for Finance, Peter Sutton, to act as mayor while he remained on special leave for the remainder of his term.

Makwarela had initially accepted the changes to Williams' resignation and cancelled a council meeting scheduled for last Thursday.

A dispute ensued because the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Tshwane insisted that Williams' first resignation letter of 13 February should be the only one accepted by the council.

The EFF stormed the Tshwane council offices last week, insisting that the mayoral committee appointed by Williams did not exist because his resignation immediately dissolved the political positions.

The party manhandled and attempted to remove mayoral committee members from the Tshwane office building.

The EFF's insistence on the legal standing of Williams' first resignation date held some water.

Makwarela confirmed that a legal opinion from a law firm appointed by the City manager confirmed that 13 February was Williams' last day in office and the City had no political appointee.

"Yesterday, my office was furnished with formal legal opinion which confirmed that the initial resignation of executive mayor, which was tendered on 13 February, was valid. The resignation took effect from midnight of the same day, and the amendment of the date was unlawful and has no force and effect," Makwarela said.

Makwarela denied that he had "broken" the law by accepting Williams' amended resignation date.

He said a new date for the appointment of a new speaker would be announced "soon" because stabilising the municipal government was necessary.

"The speaker will determine the date [on which] a new mayor can be elected," he added.

Makwarela said municipal legislation only noted that a new mayor had to be elected as "soon as necessary". He said he was consulting with party whips on the date.

Makwarela is a Congress of the People member, and his party forms a coalition partnership with the DA, ActionSA, African Christian Democratic Party, Freedom Front-Plus and the Inkatha Freedom Party to govern in Tshwane.

Even though Makwarela needs clarification on when a council meeting will take place for the election of a mayor, News24 understands that the coalition partners want a meeting to be held by Friday.

The rush to elect a mayor stems from a need to urgently pass an adjustment budget for the City.

This needs to be finalised by the end of February becaus...

Secretary to Parliament Xolile George highlighted on Tuesday that it is envisaged that, through the restoration of Parliament, South Africa will have a new National Assembly building within 24 months.

He was briefing media on the details of the reconstruction of the sections of Parliament buildings damaged by the fire that broke out last year and which caused extensive damage to key offices, chambers and meeting rooms in the National Assembly and Old Assembly buildings.

Last year Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced that R2-billion would be set aside for the restoration of the damaged sections.

Parliament and the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA), through its Infrastructure Delivery Division, have agreed to collaborate with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) and National Treasury, on the restoration project.

George said the areas of partnership between Parliament and the DBSA for the purpose of this project would include capacity development, technical support and implementation of infrastructure projects.

He also announced that the partnership included refurbishment of burnt Parliament buildings, the Old Assembly building, the link building and the National Assembly Building.

George revealed that the project would include a larger public gallery to accommodate members of the public in line with Parliament's constitutional obligations of public involvement, more office space for MPs and committee rooms.

The partnership will also comprise of security infrastructure upgrades, and conceptualisation and redesign of the Parliamentary precinct.

While the project is envisaged to be completed within 24 months, it will allow a further six months for retention to deal with snags and challenges arising after occupation.

“We are, therefore, confident that this milestone is the first step in restoring the essential services to a more conducive and responsive environment that will address the much-needed upgrade of the security infrastructure and security,” added George.

He said Parliament implemented business continuity management frameworks to minimalise the disruption of the business of Parliament, including securing alternative venues for the joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament.

Parliament has been using the Cape Town City Hall owing to the extensive damage.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said while this development was a milestone, it had been a slow process as the fire occurred more than a year ago.

Party chief whip Siviwe Gwarube noted that the restoration announcement came after the DA sent a legal demand to Parliament to find a suitable venue for the National Assembly, in particular, to conduct its business while the rebuilding of the precinct continued.

“We will still be expecting the institution to respond to the DA’s legal challenge tomorrow on what the plans are for finding suitable alternative venues for Parliament to fully resume its functions. This is not a nice to-have. It’s a constitutional obligation that we take seriously."

Business organisation Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso has said that no matter what financial salves Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana allocates to soothe South Africa’s numerous economic ailments in his Budget speech on February 22, the money will not achieve much unless there is a significant improvement in government’s ability to implement policy and spend the funds effectively.

“A glance at the unfortunate states of our public health and education systems shows that often it is not lack of money but inappropriately capacitated departments, misgovernance and, sadly, corruption that causes the problems,” she said in her February 20 newsletter.

Mavuso pointed out that South Africa spends 20.3% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on healthcare and 12.3% on education – far more than most emerging markets and even ahead of some developed economies such as Iceland, which in 2020 spent 9.6% of its GDP on healthcare and 7.7% on education, according to European Commission figures, while Italy only spent 9.6% on healthcare and 4.3% on education.

“Yet, despite this, even the most sanguine of observers cannot describe the state of these two sectors as anything other than a crisis,” she noted.

In Mavuso’s view, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s drive to upgrade the public service, primarily through the National Implementation Framework towards the Professionalisation of the Public Service is a step in the right direction, but still a long way off from producing positive results.

The consequence was, therefore, one of widespread ineffective expenditure, she said.

“The big one is the [State-owned] Eskom debt repayment. Godongwana is expected to announce that government is taking over a considerable portion of Eskom’s R400-billion debt. Markets will be watching closely to see how the promised debt relief will be structured, how much it will be and what conditions are attached,” she noted.

Mavuso said this was an important step, as the reduced debt service costs would make room for Eskom to finance urgent upgrades to power stations, among other critical issues. However, it was not a sustainable long-term solution.

“Eskom’s expenses will continue to be higher than the revenue it can generate, particularly with the huge amounts needed for repairs to and maintenance of power stations, and that is not sustainable. Various steps are needed to get it onto a sound financial footing, including addressing municipal debt of almost R50-billion and rising,” she said.

Another important step Mavuso highlighted was the full unbundling of Eskom into the generation, transmission and distribution arms, which was yet to happen despite being announced by Ramaphosa four years ago in 2019.

“We also hope to get some insight into the state of disaster. What we don’t want to see is a big chunk of money being budgeted for under a vague, sweep-all name like ‘emergency procurement’ with little further detail,” she said.

When announcing the state of disaster earlier this month, Ramaphosa promised that the Auditor-General would be brought in to ensure continuous monitoring of expenditure to guard against any abuses of the funds needed to resolve the energy crisis.

Mavuso said that, while this sentiment was encouraging, the conditionality attached to any such funds needed to not only be transparent but also confine the spending to specific areas where it was needed – these being areas that directly addressed the loadshedding crisis.

“While the Auditor-General’s office has served South Africa proudly with an excellent record of delivering audits that meticulously record the amounts that government entities spend irregularly, wastefully or fruitlessly, the forces of patronage have proven to be extremely powerful and resilient,” Mavuso warned, noting that transparency can be a powerful deterrent to corruption and would aid the Auditor-General’s important role.

It can reliably be presumed that, with loadshedding causing widespread economic damage every da...

Democratic Alliance (DA) Shadow Minister of Finance Dion George said on Monday that in this year’s Budget speech government must focus on stimulating the economy and create a conducive environment for foreign investment.

George delivered the DA’s alternative Budget, ahead of Minister Enoch Godongwana’s 2023 Budget address on Wednesday, saying that previous Budgets had failed by making it difficult for households to put food on the table, while unemployment continued to rise and businesses destabilise.

George was flanked by his deputy Ashor Sarupen and DA Shadow Minister of Social Development Bridget Masango when he said that rapidly increasing debt and ongoing blackouts were also a hindrance in service delivery.

George warned that the impact of a likely greylisting by the Financial Action Task Force later this week would be an immediate increase in the cost of compliance for South African financial institutions, and stressed that already hard-pressed consumers would feel the effects.

The DA’s proposal, which George said would halve unemployment by 2030, included the implementation of fiscal management practises which he said would enable more economic and labour market participation and attraction of foreign and domestic investment. He said this would improve living standards and alleviate the disproportionate impact of rising inflation on vulnerable members of society.

The DA believes that major reforms are required for the South African economy to thrive.

“This starts by removing government-imposed barriers to growth. A government that is effective at serving the public limits regulation and focuses on essential services,” he said.

The party proposed the establishment of a Foundation for Sustainable Economic Growth.

George stated that South Africa’s fiscal environment remains characterised by an unsustainable level of debt, persistent deficit spending, slow economic growth, stubbornly high levels of unemployment, a deceleration of both foreign and domestic private capital formation, a decline in gross domestic product per capita, escalating living costs and potential food insecurity, and political volatility.

On Monday South Africans woke up to reports of the country being plunged to continuous Stage 6 loadshedding until further notice after eight generating units broke down on Sunday.

“Uncertain energy supply coupled with an unstable political environment has drastically impacted the development of South Africa and severely limited the growth potential of our economy. There has been much talk regarding solutions for South Africa’s electricity crisis, yet after 15 years of living under scarce energy supply, not enough has been done,” he added.

The DA reiterated its call for the privatisation of Eskom and for the opening of the energy sector to independent power producers, and in the interim, it said Eskom must prioritise the streamlining of its procurement processes while allowing massive private capacity to power South Africa.

Addressing corruption, the party proposed that government commit to the bolstering of corruption-busting institutions as corruption in an economy impeded the efficient allocation of resources and impeded the functioning of market mechanisms.

The DA blamed the ruling government for the state of the economy which it said was “in serious trouble” as a direct result of government’s failed economic policies, its failed model for black economic empowerment, its attempt to place a dysfunctional State at the centre of the economy and its disastrous cadre deployment policy.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that by supporting peace-building efforts and by deepening the country’s bilateral relationships with fellow African nations in trade and investment, South Africa is playing its part towards meeting the aspirations of the African Union’s (AU’s) Agenda 2063.

He said at the same time, South Africa is helping to create conditions that will enable its own stability, growth and development.

Over the weekend Ramaphosa attended the thirty-sixth Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Ethiopia.

He said growth and development across Africa contributed to South Africa’s progress in opportunities for trade, investment and cooperation in areas such as technology and innovation.

However, he said that conflict, instability, and economic deprivation in parts of the continent often had a negative impact on these opportunities.

Ramaphosa expressed concern about the escalation of brutal attacks on civilians by non-State armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

He stated that the conflict must be addressed, including the illegal exploitation of mineral resources and competition between countries in the Great Lakes region.

“That is why we have called for the resumption of dialogue, de-escalation of tensions between warring parties and the withdrawal of all foreign armed groups from the eastern DRC. The decision of the AU Assembly welcoming the deployment of the East African Community Regional Force to enhance regional peace and security in the DRC is to be welcomed,” he said.

He highlighted that South Africa has been actively engaged in peace-building efforts in the DRC and it provides troops to the UN stabilisation mission, MONUSCO Force Intervention Brigade.

He said South Africa remained committed to using its experience of negotiation, political dialogue and peacemaking to support people on the continent who were in the grip of conflict and in the throes of transition.

“South Africa is host to many refugees and asylum seekers. As a country, we have comprehensive refugee protection laws and a constitutional framework that deals with the challenges that people fleeing conflict and persecution face,” he said.

Ramaphosa noted that at the same time, South Africa has a high number of economic migrants.

“We have seen how this places a strain on many of our public services and how this has contributed to social tensions between our people and migrant communities. These tensions have sometimes led to violence against foreign nationals, which we must firmly condemn and work together to prevent,” he said.

OTHER CHALLENGES

He added that several other challenges loom large on Africa’s peace and security landscape, referencing unconstitutional changes of government in Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Sudan. He pointed out that all four member States remained suspended from the AU.

The involvement of foreign fighters, armed groups and mercenaries in African conflicts, as well as the rise of terrorism and violent extremism in Somalia, the Sahel region and northern Mozambique, also posed serious threats to the continent’s stability, he explained.

Ramaphosa said the Peace and Security Council was seized with the challenge of securing predictable, adequate and sustainable financing for AU peace and security activities.

“We have called for the United Nations to fund Africa’s peace efforts. We welcome the fact that the AU Peace Fund is on track to meet its funding targets.”

He said South Africa continued to play an important role in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), including in the reforms process in Lesotho and through the SADC mission to Mozambique, which is battling an insurgency in the country’s north.

The council of the University of Cape Town (UCT) has decided to suspend Vice-Chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng, News24 has reliably learnt.

The suspension is "imminent".

This follows the appointment of an independent panel of investigation into allegations of mismanagement and abuse of power against Phakeng, headed by retired Supreme Court of Appeal President Judge Lex Mpati.

The suspension comes after more complainants came forward and a formal grievance was laid against her.

News24 understands the council sought legal opinions that confirmed Phakeng should be suspended to protect the integrity of UCT.

The council met on Thursday last week when the university's highest decision-making body decided to oust Phakeng pending the investigation into her and council chair Babalwa Ngonyama.

The core of the investigation is the claim that Phakeng and Ngonyama lied about the true reasons for the departure of former deputy vice-chancellor Lis Lange.

News24 understands that Phakeng's support on the council has diminished rapidly. It is expected that one of UCT's deputy vice-chancellors will be appointed to act as vice-chancellor.

In recent weeks, UCT has experienced student protests, threats by academic staff to go on strike, and the resignation of well-regarded registrar Royston Pillay.

UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola said in a brief statement: "UCT notes media reports around the status of the Vice-Chancellor. The university can unequivocally state that the Vice-Chancellor has not been suspended."

News24 understands that Phakeng sent messages to senior UCT staff members following reports of her imminent suspension.

According to the messages Phakeng sent, which News24 has seen, she said she was unaware of the suspension.

"Therefore, will remain in office and active until I receive formal notification from HR," she said in the message.

KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube has assured residents and businesses that her government will utilise various ways to reduce ongoing power cuts that are affecting the economy.

Addressing day one of the KZN government’s two-day Planning Lekgotla on Friday, ahead of the State of the Province Address (SoPA) on February 24, Dube-Ncube said that the province would also look into utilising its resources, such as the sea, to generate electricity which would, in turn, attract investors to the province.

While more details would be ironed out during the SoPA, she said the lekgotla would look into whether her Cabinet could deliver on government’s mandate as outlined by President Cyril Ramaphosa during the State of the Nation Address.

The Premier said youth unemployment remained a problem in the province and shared that the lekgotla would also look into whether the province’s programmes had had any positive impact in tackling the issue.

Addressing water challenges she said her government had decided to assist municipalities in addressing the scarcity of water in certain areas.

This after deadly floods damaged various infrastructure last year and forced government to declare a State of Disaster.

The Premier said her government would also focus on crime and take the onus off of national government. She said the KZN government would inject money into crime-fighting technology.

“The businesses are not able to function well and our economy will not flourish if our communities are affected by the criminals. We have seen last week the sad news of the brutal killing of well-known musician Kiernan ‘AKA’ Forbes with his friend chef Tebello ‘Tibz’ Motsoane in the province. We also note the news of the people who were shot in Mariannhill in the same week and various [other] incidents including the shooting that was reported in KwaMashu hostel.

“.all the government’s efforts to revive the economy will go unnoticed if the people of the province live in fear,” she said.

Gender-based violence will also be discussed, as well as existing interventions and new ways that could be introduced to tackle the issue.