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Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to use his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on Thursday to urgently incentivise energy generation by households and businesses.

South Africa hit a bleak milestone of 100 consecutive days of loadshedding on Tuesday, with rolling blackouts every single day since October 31, 2022.

Hill-Lewis recently announced that the City of Cape Town would pay cash for power fed into the local electricity grid from residents and businesses.

He said government needed to support tax rebate incentives for residents and businesses to go solar while staying on the grid to sell power for cash.

He also wants to see a national solar photovoltaic subsidy for local authorities to rapidly install small-scale embedded generation at public buildings and rental stock.

“We are ready to work with you, your Cabinet, and the national government on reversing key areas of State failure, but we need your help. You have the power to announce the changes needed to devolve more powers to well-run local authorities,” he said.

He explained that the metro’s municipal law enforcement officers were taking guns and drugs off the streets daily, but with more policing powers, the metro could increase convictions to bring lasting change in high-crime areas.

POLICING

Hill-Lewis also wants Ramaphosa to devolve investigative powers to municipal law enforcement so that officers can build prosecution-ready case dockets, especially for guns, drugs and gang crime.

He also demanded that the South African Police Service urgently step up resourcing in crime fighting, particularly in precincts with the highest murder and violent crime rates.

Hill-Lewis also urged Ramaphosa to announce the fast-tracked devolution of passenger rail to cities so that the metro can get Cape Town’s “once-strong” train service running again together with the private sector.

“Making these changes is about people, not politics. Use your State of the Nation address to turn the tide on state failure and give South Africans a sense of renewed hope for the future,” he said.

Former president Jacob Zuma is seeking leave to appeal the interdict against his private prosecution of his successor Cyril Ramaphosa to the Constitutional Court – the same court which sentenced him to 15 months' imprisonment for disobeying its order to appear at the Zondo Commission and whose orders he publicly stated he would defy again if he doesn't agree with it.

In his affidavit to the apex court, Zuma describes the interdict temporarily halting his private prosecution of Ramaphosa as "easily one of the saddest chapters in the history of injustice in South Africa".

On 15 December, a day before the ANC's national elective conference, Zuma launched his private prosecution against Ramaphosa, who stood as a candidate for the party's leadership.

Zuma accuses Ramaphosa of "being [an] accessory after the fact to crimes committed by, among others, advocate [Billy] Downer" in alleged breaches of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Act.

Downer is prosecuting Zuma on behalf of the State for arms deal-related corruption.

Zuma is seeking to privately prosecute Downer and News24 specialist legal writer Karyn Maughan for allegedly violating the NPA Act by sharing court documents - filed by Zuma's lawyers and the State - that contained a sick note from the former president's military doctor.

Both Downer and Maughan have lodged applications to have that private prosecution declared an abuse of court process. Zuma argued that Ramaphosa's failure to investigate the NPA - an institution supposed to be immune from political interference - made him an accessory after the fact.

Zuma was adamant that Ramaphosa had to appear in the dock on 19 January.

Ramaphosa brought an application in two parts in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on 27 December. In part a, he is seeking to interdict Zuma from continuing with the private prosecution, pending the finalisation of part b. This part of the application is urgent.

In part b, he is asking the court to declare Zuma's summonses unlawful, unconstitutional, and invalid or to declare the summonses and the nolle prosequi (unwilling to pursue) certificate unlawful, unconstitutional, and invalid and to set them aside.

The High Court in Johannesburg ruled on the interdict on 16 January.

Deputy Judge President Roland Sutherland, Judge Edwin Molahleli and Judge Marcus Senyatsi found that Ramaphosa had shown "prima facie" that his right to personal freedom may be violated by Zuma's efforts to prosecute him for alleged violations of the NPA Act.

This ruling is what Zuma is now seeking leave to appeal to the Constitutional Court.

"At the core of this application is a constitutional right of an aggrieved person, who is denied his right to prosecute," Zuma said.

According to Zuma, a "holistic evaluation" of the matter will show that Ramaphosa has little prospect of success in part b of his application and in the criminal trial.

Ironically, Zuma – who launched multiple civil challenges to the corruption prosecution against him as part of his so-called Stalingrad defence – insisted that only Ramaphosa's criminal trial court could hear his private prosecution challenge. This would have forced the president to appear in court for a case he maintains is abusive and legally unsound.

The full Bench found that there was legal precedent that made it clear that people accused of wrongdoing in private prosecutions could challenge the cases against them in the civil court. It also found that there was no real jurisdictional difference between criminal and civil courts.

"The notion that the only route for relief a party can invoke to contest the title of prosecutor is to raise the question of title in a special plea . is misconceived," the full Bench ruled.

This is one of the aspects Zuma now wants to appeal, with one of the grounds that judges wear different coloured robes in the civil and criminal courts.

"The criminal courts are specifically created for criminal matters whilst civil courts are created to adjudicat...

While many South Africans continue to deal with ongoing power cuts, every effort has been made for President Cyril Ramaphosa to deliver a loadshedding-free State of the Nation Address (SoNA).

On Tuesday, Parliament's presiding officers announced its readiness for the 2023 SoNA, which will be delivered by Ramaphosa on Thursday.

Secretary to Parliament Xolile George told journalists at a media conference there would be a "minimisation of loadshedding" to accommodate SoNA.

"Part of our engagement with the City [of Cape Town] in collaboration with Eskom, there will be measures taken to ensure there is no load shedding that will impact on the delivery of SoNA, including related precincts. That work is ongoing, including alternative measures to mitigate the likelihood of loadshedding impacting the delivery on the SoNA," George said.

On the issue of the budget for SoNA, George said around R8-million had been budgeted.

"That takes into account a number of logistics to put together an event of this magnitude and scale. Consistent to the fiscal challenges faced by the country, every attempt is made to minimise the issue of costs. It grows minimally each year," he said.

While R8-million had been budgeted, the final amount of what was actually spent would be consolidated at a later stage.

National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said this year's SoNA would be in person.

There will be approximately 490 MPs and 10 representatives from the SA Local Government Association. Parliament has invited 263 guests, including former president Thabo Mbeki.

"We can confirm that similar to last year, this year's proceedings of SoNA 2023 will follow the full ceremony format. Activities undertaken and observed during a full ceremony include the Flame Guard, the 21-gun salute, an aircraft fly-past, the lining of the route, the Ceremonial Guard, the Salute of the Step Guard, the singing of the National Anthem, the full Military Band and the ceremonial processions of the Provincial Speakers, Premiers, the Judiciary, the Deputy President and the President," Mapisa-Nqakula said.

Mapisa-Nqakula said they were aware of planned protests outside the precinct, adding that appropriate arrangements would be made to receive memoranda where required.

Responding to a question on possible disruptions inside the chamber, National Council of Provinces chairperson Amos Masondo said they would be firm and fair to ensure that SoNA was not disrupted by rowdy MPs.

In a statement, the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) announced that measures had been taken to ensure a safe SoNA.

NATJOINTS spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said work had already begun to create a safe environment.

A statement read, "Integrated and joint law enforcement operations are under way, and law enforcement officers have been deployed and are on high alert to ensure that the SoNA takes place in a secure environment, with no incidents of crime before, during and post the SoNA."

"To this end, NATJOINTS is calling for the cooperation of the public, including those who will be in attendance as well as spectators. Any action aimed at disrupting the SoNA or intentionally contravening the law will be dealt with accordingly within the ambit of the law."

NATJOINTS comprises various government departments, including the South African Police Service, the South African National Defence Force and the State Security Agency.

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the private prosecution which former president Jacob Zuma intends bringing against him has an ulterior motive and is unlawful.

Last year, on 15 and 21 December, Zuma issued Ramaphosa with a summons accusing him of being an accessory after the fact, or alternatively, defeating the ends of justice.

This related to his other private prosecution - that of senior State advocate Billy Downer and News24 legal journalist Karyn Maughan - with Zuma taking umbrage over the fact that Downer provided a medical report about Zuma to Maughan that was later filed in court.

Zuma accuses the two of breaching the National Prosecuting Authority Act.

He now further accuses Ramaphosa of being criminally liable because he failed to act after he wrote to the president, asking him to investigate the matter.

In an affidavit by Ramaphosa, handed to the High Court this week, the president said the summons was "unlawful, unconstitutional and invalid", and asked the court to set it aside.

He outlined that Zuma had relied on the nolle prosequi certificate – a document issued by the NPA stating it did not intend to prosecute – that was expired by the time a summons was issued against him.

The private prosecution also contravened the constitution, Ramaphosa argued, adding that the charge in the summons was "frivolous and vexatious".

"The private prosecution is for an ulterior purpose. The complaint on which the alleged offence against me is based does not constitute a criminal offence.

"The prosecution could not genuinely be for a purpose of obtaining a criminal conviction. It is an abuse of court processes for an ulterior purpose."

In his affidavit, Ramaphosa further states that when the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in KwaZulu-Natal reviewed Zuma's complaint against Maughan and Downer, it was concluded that his medical document was public "due to it having been filed as part of the court papers".

"This was not confidential material because it had no particulars about the nature of the illness or treatment," said Ramaphosa about the DPP evaluation on whether to prosecute or not.

He added that the DPP had also concluded that there was no evidence that any crime was committed by Downer or any member of the prosecution team, leading to the State declining to prosecute.

Ramaphosa further said that the nolle prosequi certificate relating to the private prosecution of Downer did not relate to him as a suspect.

"It also does not relate to a charge against me. It related to an offence allegedly committed on 9 August 2021 which is the primary offence of the NPA Act.

"It [the certificate] is not for the offence of an accessory after the fact or defeating the ends of justice."

Ramaphosa added that there was no record of him ever being a suspect under investigation for contravening the NPA Act.

"The absence of a nolle prosequi certificate that relates to me and a charge against me means that Mr Zuma is attempting to bypass the NPA by privately charging me for alleged offences that were never considered by the NPA and in respect of which the DPP has never been issued a nolle prosequi certificate.

"This contravenes the provisions of the [criminal procedures act] and is unconstitutional and invalid."

Ramaphosa said the nolle prosequi certificates also state that the crime allegedly committed occurred on 9 August 2021.

"It is practically impossible that I could have committed the crime of accessory after the fact or defeating the ends of justice on 9 August 2021, before the request was made to me to investigate."

Last month, the Gauteng High Court granted Ramaphosa an urgent interdict pausing Zuma's private prosecution. The order bars him from taking his private prosecution further at this stage.

On Tuesday, TimesLive reported that Zuma had approached the Constitutional Court directly to overturn the High Court's interim interdict.

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen said on Tuesday that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration has dragged the country “down this path of failure over the past five wasted years”.

Delivering his own version of the State of the Nation ahead of Ramaphosa’s address on Thursday, Steenhuisen said the true state of the nation amounted to one in which people had a binary choice to make that would irrevocably shape South Africa for future generations.

He accused Ramaphosa of adding to what has been termed the ‘nine wasted years’ during which former president Jacob Zuma presided.

He called on South Africans to use their democratic right in the 2024 general election to give the DA a chance to make South Africa better.

The party believes that the Eskom energy crisis, which has burdened the country with sustained power cuts, is a result of African National Congress (ANC) failures.

“Nothing that President Ramaphosa says on Thursday will change this reality. In fact, Ramaphosa is the one who has taken us down this path of failure over the last five wasted years, during which time this country has rapidly gone backwards on every conceivable metric,” Steenhuisen said.

He believes that the DA is the only credible way out of the current economic and social situation that South Africa finds itself in.

“If you count yourself amongst the groups who want this country to succeed, who want to embark on the fundamentally better path, use your voice, raise your voice in the service of change because that is ultimately what democracy demands in each of us. It offers us the possibility of peacefully changing direction. It gives a way out when we recognise that the road that we are currently on leads to a dangerous dead end,” he stressed.

Steenhuisen outlined the DA’s energy success in the Western Cape and pointed out that residents were already protected from up to two stages of loadshedding.

He shared that Cape Town was set to start buying extra electricity from businesses and households while hundreds of megawatts in private projects were on the way to end loadshedding in Cape Town.

Steenhuisen said where the DA governs outright, potholes are repaired, sewerage is collected, and infrastructure is maintained.

He said as the failures of national government accelerated, DA local governments were increasingly taking over services such as electricity generation, public transport and policing.

“As the collapse of ANC-run governments accelerates at the same time that the DA pushes the boundaries of innovation and good governance, the gap between these two paradigms is set to become a yawning chasm by 2024,” he highlighted.

Steenhuisen warned South Africans that the ANC government would continue to regard private enterprise with hostility, to hold a monopoly over critical economic sectors, and to provide substandard education and healthcare services.

He noted that, therefore, loadshedding would continue, poverty and inequality would grow further, and accelerating capital flight would turn the South African economy into an isolated basket case.

“. in 2024 we must form a new government that is built around the same values and principles that have already put places like Cape Town onto a better path,” Steenhuisen stated.

Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu is expected to meet President Cyril Ramaphosa this week to discuss a controversial three-year multimillion-pound sponsorship proposal with English Premier League side, Tottenham Hotspur.

The meeting follows Sisulu's lengthy discussions with South African Tourism (SAT) board members over the weekend.

"The board fully briefed her on the deal on Saturday. The next step now is to inform the president. She will be meeting the president in the next few days, following which an announcement will be made," her spokesperson, Steve Motale, told News24 on Monday.

Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said on Friday that Ramaphosa still had to be briefed on the proposal and that he had no plans to announce it during the State of the Nation Address.

Magwenya said the Presidency did not think "spending so much money in the manner that is being suggested will be justified".

SA Tourism proposed the deal, worth £42.5-million (about R900-million), starting at the beginning of the 2023/24 season and concluding at the end of the 2026/27 season.

In exchange for the whopping investment, SA Tourism will receive kit branding, interview backdrop branding, match-day advertising, partnership announcements, training camps in South Africa, and free access to tickets and stadium hospitality.

It came under heavy criticism during a media briefing on Thursday.

However, SAT acting chief executive officer Themba Khumalo defended it and said they expected the backlash.

Three SAT board members – Enver Duminy, Ravi Nadasen and Rosemary Anderson – resigned with immediate effect over the weekend.

Sisulu accepted the resignations and the process of appointing "suitable replacements" is under way.

Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola announced on Monday that while significant progress in renewing the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has been made, a silo approach in the fight against fraud and corruption has been identified as a weakness in the criminal justice system.

Lamola gave the opening address at the Countering the Corrupt: Reform of the Criminal Justice Administration in South Africa conference, where he said such a gathering was indicative of the fact that there was general consensus that corruption cannot be addressed by government alone. He said civil society, the private sector and academia working with government could be instrumental in effecting various reforms.

He highlighted that government was now in a position to act on the recommendations from the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into allegations of State Capture.

He explained that there were now greater levels of collaboration and coordination between the Investigative Directorate, Asset Forfeiture Unit, the Specialised Commercial Crimes Unit, Special Investigating Unit and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation.

In total, the Investigative Directorate has enrolled 32 cases, involving 187 accused individuals who have appeared in court for alleged State capture-related offences.

He said this was not something to be scoffed at, as it was proof that accountability was happening. This was the same work that had led to R12.5-billion being recovered, he added.

He said the reinstatement of the aspirant prosecutors’ programme had seen more than 1 000 new employees brought into the fold over the past three years.

He highlighted that in strengthening the independence and the security of tenure of the incumbents in the Investigative Directorate, the Justice Ministry had a new bill that was currently undergoing internal consultative processes between relevant departments.

He explained that this work built on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s pronouncement in October last year that government would undertake work to implement the recommendations in the judicial commissions’ report.

“In the interim, whilst the consultative processes are underway, we have assigned peace officer powers to the Investigative Directorate. This will enable them to arrest people, take statements, conduct search and seizure operations,” said Lamola.

He highlighted that the NPA and its subsidiaries’ independence must be assessed in terms of structural and operational autonomy.

This was a risk identified first by the Glenister judgment and then again by the Judicial Commission on State Capture, he said.

“Whilst it is true Chapter 9 of our Constitution is where independent entities are housed in our democracy, we are of the view that the independence of an entity like the NPA and its subsidiaries cannot be looked through a simplistic lens of where the entity is housed,” he said.

WHISTLEBLOWING

Lamola paid tribute to all the whistleblowers who had come forward to reveal unethical conduct and corruption in the public and private sectors.

“You are the true embodiment of the famous saying by British philosopher John Stuart Mill: 'Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.’ You are the good people who refused to look on and do nothing,” he said.

He highlighted that the level of reprisal which whistleblowers were being subjected to was proving to be counterintuitive to the laudable goals of whistleblowing, which were in the main to mainstream integrity and expose unethical organisational cultures through detection and protection.

“One of the gaps we have identified is the fact companies or government departments who are implicated by whistleblowers are not held accountable for victimising whistleblowers. The second gap we have identified is how we can transition whistleblowers into witnesses in criminal cases where possible,” he said.

African National Congress (ANC) deputy president Paul Mashatile has refused to answer any questions about his future, reiterating that David Mabuza remains second in command of the country.

Hours after being sworn in as an MP, Mashatile spoke to journalists in Parliament, but was not forthcoming about when he would take over the reins from Mabuza, who has already publicly indicated that he has resigned as deputy president.

Mashatile, former KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala, former Johannesburg mayor Parks Tau, and ANC second deputy secretary-general Maropene Ramokgopa were sworn in on Monday.

Mashatile said, "for now", he was happy to serve as an MP.

Asked if he was ready to take up the position of deputy president, Mashatile said: "I have been deployed to Parliament. I am the deputy president of the ANC, and the deputy president of the country is the prerogative of the president. He should decide that. For now, I am happy to serve here as MP. It's good to be back here."

He served as an MP from 2010 until 2016 when he was recalled to Gauteng, where he served as MEC of human settlement under David Makhura.

Mashatile also said that there had been no briefing to the ANC’s top seven about a possible Cabinet reshuffle.

"Nothing as yet," he said.

He added that there was no particular portfolio he would want to serve in as MP.

When pressed on the deputy president matter, he said, Mabuza was the deputy president as far as he knew.

"I don’t know. I have not seen him. The last time I saw, he was the DP (deputy president) of the Republic."

Mashatile laughed when News24 asked him if he wanted to be appointed deputy president before or after the State of The Nation Address.

Ramaphosa is expected to reshuffle his Cabinet before Thursday when he delivers his address.

On Sunday, his spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told News24 that, while Mabuza had indicated that he wanted to step down from his duties, the president had requested that he remain in his position until details of his departure were fully ironed out.

After hours of arguing, the Ekurhuleni municipality's caucus meeting disintegrated into chaos on Thursday night after half the councillors walked out and the rest continued with the meeting.

The extraordinary council meeting started at 13:00 after a time change the night before from 10:00.

The main item on the agenda was a vote of no confidence in speaker Raymond Dhlamini and a motion to suspend the council rule on the six-month wait between motions of no confidence.

As the last motion of no confidence in Ekurhuleni Mayor Tania Campbell took place in October, the next could only take place in April.

On Thursday at 20:00, Dhlamini collapsed the extraordinary council meeting after hours of dissension among councillors rendered it a non-starter. Councillors were fighting the speaker to move the motions closer to the start of the meeting instead of near the end.

The speaker eventually ended the meeting and left, followed by the Freedom Front Plus, Inkatha Freedom Party, Democratic Alliance (DA), African Christian Democratic Party and ActionSA.

City manager Imogen Mashazi then took over as speaker, leaving many to believe that the continuation of the caucus was illegal.

The remaining parties dealt with the motions and elected Economic Freedom Fighters councillor Nthabiseng Tshivhenga as interim speaker.

The motion to suspend the rule on the timing between motions of no confidence was passed, and the supposed next move would be to vote out Campbell.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, ActionSA asked Campbell and her mayoral committee to resign.

In a statement, the party cited the resignation of DA chief whip Khetha Shandu and oversight chairperson Pieter Henning as the reasons for wanting Campbell and her MMCs to step down.

ActionSA Gauteng chairperson Bongani Baloyi said their departure was "indicative of the implosion currently taking place as a result of the DA's failure to lead coalitions".

The African National Congress (ANC) is trying to hide its cadre deployment records by appealing the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg's order that it must hand over the material to the Democratic Alliance (DA), the party's MP Leon Schreiber said.

On Thursday, Judge Willem Wepener handed down a judgment that ordered the ANC to provide the records to Schreiber within five court days.

This relates to the complete records of the ANC's national cadre deployment committee, including meeting minutes, WhatsApp conversations, email threads, CVs and any other documents, since 1 January 2013. This includes the period President Cyril Ramaphosa was the chairperson of the cadre deployment committee in his capacity as the ANC's deputy president and when state capture was at its height.

The court case came about after the ANC refused Schreiber's request for the records in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act. The court found this decision invalid and unlawful and set it aside.

Shortly after the judgment was handed down, the ANC indicated that it would appeal the decision without specifying any grounds.

"The ANC may in due course consider conveying its full position on the matter should such a need arise after having obtained conclusive advice from its legal team," the party said in a statement.

On Friday, Schreiber said in a statement he is not surprised by the ANC's response.

"The ANC's rush to keep secrets from the people of South Africa at all costs only serves to confirm that there are many skeletons buried within the cadre deployment records sought by the DA. After all, if cadre deployment was as harmless as the ANC likes to claim, why are they so desperate to prevent the people of South Africa from seeing the truth about the party’s interference in appointment processes?" he said.

He further accused the ANC of hypocrisy in that it shows how Ramaphosa attempted to deceive the Zondo Commission.

Questioned by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, Ramaphosa claimed that he found it "a proposition that is interesting to remove this shroud of secrecy. Maybe the party should be able to show its hand".

"The fact that the ANC is now so desperately trying to hide these records from the people, shows that Ramaphosa was never serious about transparency," Schreiber said.

The second reason Schreiber considers the move hypocritical relates to the separate application the DA brought to the High Court in Pretoria to declare the cadre deployment unlawful and unconstitutional. Arguments have been heard, and the judgment has been reserved.

Schreiber said when the ANC led evidence, it claimed that the policy was part of its exercise of "free speech" and "public debate".

"This too is exposed as an untruth by the ANC’s appeal of this case, because secrecy is anathema to free speech and public debate," said Schreiber. "We look forward to giving the ANC another hiding in court in our quest to free South Africa from corruption," said Schreiber.