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The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) announced on Wednesday that it is acting in full compliance with domestic and international legal obligations in the extradition of Atul and Rajesh Gupta to South Africa.

The Gupta brothers fled the country as the news surfaced during the State Capture Commission, led by Justice Raymond Zondo, that they allegedly looted State funds under the Jacob Zuma administration, dubbed the “nine wasted years”.

The brothers were arrested as a result of an Interpol Red Notice issued at the request of the South African government earlier this year.

The NPA explained that it is on track to finalise the process of extradition in close consultation with relevant authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Interpol.

“The diplomatic and political aspects are being dealt with in parallel by our colleagues in the Ministry, Department of Justice and Department of International Relations and Cooperation,” the NPA said.

It has also submitted requests for provisional arrest warrants for the Gupta brothers, which the NPA said was a formality that needed to be complied with.

In terms of the extradition treaty between South Africa and the UAE, South Africa has 60 days from the date of arrest to submit the formal extradition application.

The NPA leadership expressed confidence in its team of experienced and highly skilled prosecutors working on the legal aspects of the Gupta extradition process.

“We have previously explained why we will not be commenting on the legal dimensions of the case at this early stage, and this remains our position for important legal and case-specific reasons. However, we note with concern the widespread misinformation and speculation about how the NPA and its leadership are handling this complex legal process. While we recognise the public interest in this matter, we must focus on delivering on our constitutional mandate and responsibilities without distraction, and without fear or favour,” it said.

Cabinet is expected to meet over a proposal to scrap all remaining Covid-19 restrictions.

A source told News24 that Cabinet would be meeting on Thursday to ratify a decision to end Covid-19 restrictions, on the recommendation of Health Minister Joe Phaahla.

This follows the President's Coordinating Council of ministers, premiers and executive mayors having met on Wednesday morning to discuss the scrapping of Covid-19 regulations, including the mandatory wearing of face masks in public places and limits on group gatherings.

News24 previously reported that Phaahla had recommended, in a letter, the repealing of Covid-19 regulations as the country had exited the fifth wave. This would include dropping the compulsory wearing of masks in indoor spaces and on public transport.

Insiders told News24 that those at the meeting were in agreement that masks and restrictions on gatherings should be scrapped.

The proposal would need to be taken to Cabinet for approval, with sources speculating South Africans would soon be addressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya was unable to "confirm any timelines" around a Cabinet meeting or so-called family meeting.

"When the announcement is made you will certainly know," he added.

The letter also recommended changes to restrictions of gatherings. There was currently a 50% limit on the number of people allowed in a venue if people were fully vaccinated, or if people could produce proof of their negative Covid-19 tests.

The letter also recommended that the country drop its entry requirements for travellers. At the moment, travellers were expected to show a vaccination certificate, or a negative Covid-19 test.

Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola said on Tuesday that no official request for mutual legal assistance was made by Namibia in the Phala Phala farm theft saga.

Last week, the Namibian Police Force said it had put in a formal request through South Africa’s Ministry of Justice to confirm whether a crime was registered in South Africa in relation to the theft.

The alleged theft of foreign currency from a farm owned by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2020 has been dubbed the Phala Phala theft.

Former spy boss Arthur Fraser has since opened a case against Ramaphosa for failing to report the theft, thereby, allegedly breaching the code of ethics. Fraser has given the Hawks additional information to solidify the case.

Lamola outlined that any country requesting mutual legal assistance must make a submission at its own embassy or the South African Embassy or High Commission in that particular country.

The request will make its way to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, which will provide proof of receipt and transmit the request to the Central Authority.

“South Africa and its sister republic, Namibia, continue to work together in a collaborative manner on issues of mutual legal assistance in accordance with the Southern African Development Community Protocol and other related bilateral treaties. So far there has not been any development that necessitates any change of approach when dealing with matters of this nature,” Lamola stated.

The Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture on Tuesday explained that chairperson Chief Justice Raymond Zondo wanted a final opportunity for quality assurance before submitting the final part of the Commission's report on State capture to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The report was expected to be handed over to Ramaphosa last Wednesday. However, Zondo informed Ramaphosa on Thursday that the report would be delayed.

The commission then stated that the electronic report will be submitted to the President on Sunday night. This did not happen.

On Monday morning, Ramaphosa and Zondo had a brief telephone call in which Zondo "offered reassurance on the delivery of the report and discussed the coordination for the handover ceremony".

Secretary of the Commission Professor Itumeleng Mosala said, on behalf of Zondo, that contrary to reports on social media, Zondo and Ramaphosa did not have any meeting on Monday.

He also said Ramaphosa did not interfere with the work of the commission in any way.

“The chairperson regrets any inconvenience caused by the delay and the postponement. The chairperson just wanted to have one final opportunity for quality assurance as he was at the JSC interview yesterday and could not do that quality assurance until sometime in the afternoon,” said Mosala said.

The report is now expected to be handed over to Ramaphosa on Wednesday.

Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla is of the view that mask-wearing is no longer needed, following a decline in the number of reported Covid-19 cases, hospitalisations and deaths.

In a letter addressed to Health MECs, he revealed a decline in the effective reproductive rate of the Covid-19 virus (less than 0.7%) and in the positivity rate, owing to low numbers in testing.

Phaahla is also proposing that limitations on gatherings be lifted, as well as entry limitations to venues.

He wants Health MECs to give their comments or concerns on the repeal of the regulations on Tuesday, as his department prepares to discuss the recommendations with Cabinet this week.

“We have been monitoring the epidemic working with the NICD (National Institute for Communicable Diseases) and the current epidemiological analysis points towards lower infection rates and that the country has exited the recent spike (5th wave), which the current limited regulations were promulgated to mitigate.” he said in his letter.

The Department of Health has consulted the National Coronavirus Command Council on the proposed lifting of regulations.

Phaahla explained that the regulations were intended as a temporary “stop-gap measure” so that the country could effectively deal with a fifth wave of the pandemic.

President Cyril Ramaphosa's refusal to share further details about the controversial burglary at his Phala Phala farm is expected to be a bone of contention at a planned African National Congress (ANC) national working committee (NWC) meeting on Monday.

Former spy boss Arthur Fraser alleged that Ramaphosa covered up the February 2020 burglary at his farm where millions in US dollars were stolen. The source of the money is now at the centre of a money laundering probe against the president.

But News24 has reliably learnt that the president refused to divulge further information at a closed meeting with his colleagues in the party's top six.

This is expected to raise the ire of his political opponents in the party's top structure, who believe Ramaphosa is refusing to be held accountable.

Party officials were meant to report back on Monday about their deliberations with the president, particularly money laundering allegations against him.

But two insiders who have knowledge of discussions said Ramaphosa would not tell ANC officials more than what he had told the media, and that he insisted that the police would fully investigate the matter.

"He is not giving details beyond what he told the media. He does not want to be held accountable."

Ramaphosa previously told the NWC that he would subject himself to an ANC integrity committee process, but News24 understands that he is yet to set a date with the group of party elders.

Committee chairperson George Mashamba could not be reached for comment.

Another expected point of contention at the NWC is the push for the postponement of the party's policy conference.

The conference was planned for the end of July but it hangs in the balance as the ANC battles with funding challenges.

An NWC member said, "He wants to postpone the policy conference because we don't have money but the reality is that he is scared of what will happen."

The source said the policy conference would be a pivotal launch pad to hold Ramaphosa accountable.

"He can't have a policy conference and not explain what happened," a second source said.

The push to postpone the conference also comes at a time when influential party leaders have been lobbying to repeal the party's step-aside rule, which calls for party leaders who are criminally charged to vacate their positions.

Should Ramaphosa be charged after a Hawks probe into the Phala Phala burglary incident, he too would have to comply with the step-aside rule.

An ANC NEC member who is loyal to Ramaphosa said the postponement of the policy conference would be a mistake because it would indicate Ramaphosa's political weakness.

The NWC meeting was scheduled for 14:00 and it was preceded by a meeting of officials to discuss the outcome of the controversial Ekurhuleni conference.

Ekurhuleni

The Ekurhuleni conference had a contentious ending because only preliminary results could be announced after the steering committee overseeing the conference quarantined 19 votes, pending a verification process.

The 19 votes, from six branches, were quarantined due to alleged irregularities in how the delegates were allowed to vote, which means the party can only declare the results after the National Dispute Resolution Committee verifies the outstanding votes.

Mzwandile Masina received 163 votes against the 151 of his contender, Doctor Xhakza. His slate won all five top official positions.

The re-elected provincial secretary, Thembinkosi Nciza, got the most votes, scooping 170 against the 124 of his contender, ANC Women's League leader in the region, Nokuthula Xaba.

The drought-stricken Nelson Mandela Bay metro is set to lose yet another water source when the Churchill Dam is set to run dry on Friday, pushing the residents of four towns further to Day Zero.

The water levels at Churchill Dam are sitting close to 8%.

Together with Loerie, Kouga, and Goendal, the dam levels are at 11.94%.

The dams supply the towns of Gqeberha, Kariega, Despatch, and Colchester.

DA councillor in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro who sits on the infrastructure and engineering panel, said projections showed that Churchill Dam would run dry on Friday.

Impofu dam ran dry last week and as an interim measure the NMBM is taking more water from the Kouga – Loerie System to make up the deficit.

The municipality previously revealed that this can only be done in the short term and advised that in order to make the water in the Churchill Dam stretch, all water users must urgently reduce water consumption.

When the dams run dry, taps in 107 areas will have no water.

Despite this, the metro said it loses 30% of its water supply to leaking pipes. This is roughly 81 megaliters of clean water per day.

Last week, the municipality said it had hired 10 private plumbing companies to bolster its teams of plumbers to tackle the leaks.

The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber has also joined forces with the municipality and the humanitarian organisation, the Gift of the Givers, to help avert Day Zero.

Gift of the Givers has started drilling 10 boreholes and the business chamber has donated water tanks, and their member companies have provided workers to assist.

The SA Weather Service's Gqeberha office told News24 that although there were chances of rain on and off over the catchment areas into the weekend, this was not expected to significantly affect or impact dam levels at this stage.

On Saturday the metro announced that people had made a fire on a water pipe resulting in a massive pipe burst in Aspen Heights.

The municipality said due to maintenance work to seal the massive leak, Bethelsdorp and Aspen Heights areas were expected to face disruption to water supply.

"However, the Bethelsdorp reservoir is now at roughly 30% capacity. In the event that storage is depleted before repairs are completed, Bethelsdorp and Aspen Heights may face water outages," municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said.

The municipality has urged residents to use water sparingly and to help the city curb the scourge of vandalism by calling the vandalism hotline at 041 506 5500 to report criminal activity, and acts of vandalism, near municipal property.

The municipality has been in the grip of a devastating drought since 2016 as no significant dam-filling rain has fallen in the area for years.

The NMB Chamber of Business said while it acknowledge that the lack of rain, which has resulted in low dam levels and has been one of the factors contributing to the water crisis, there were a number of other issues which have further worsened the situation.

It said among these factors were a lack of accountability and urgency from municipal leadership in dealing with the water issues, budget procurement, bottlenecks, lack of investment and maintenance of infrastructure, and qualified engineers no longer being employed by the municipality.

On Tuesday, a municipal council meeting resolved to approve a national intervention plan proposed by Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu.

The plan will result in the appointment of a specialist from Mchunu's office as acting executive director for infrastructure and engineering.

This vacancy has been seen as a huge stumbling block in successfully dealing with the water crisis in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro.

President Cyril Ramaphosa will join the virtual fourteenth Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa ) Leaders’ Summit, on Thursday, hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Ramaphosa hopes to strengthen South Africa’s ties with the Brics countries, particularly for job creation.

He highlighted the gains from the partnership in trade, tourism, health and food security.

More than 17% of South Africa’s exports in 2021 were destined for other Brics countries and over 29% of South Africa’s total imports came from these countries.

South African trade with other Brics countries reached R702-billion in 2021 up from R487-billion in 2017.

Pre-pandemic, 65% of tourists travelling on vacation to South Africa were from Brics countries, according to Ramaphosa.

“.these markets will therefore be expected to make an important contribution to the recovery of this sector. It is therefore significant that visitors from India and China can now make use of our new eVisa programme to make it easier and less costly to visit our country,” he said.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Brics countries have collaborated in the health response, which Ramaphosa believes has put South Africa in a good position to deal with future health emergencies.

“After several years of planning, the virtual Brics Vaccine Research and Development Centre was launched in March. This centre will enable Brics countries to engage in joint vaccine research, development and co-production. It will contribute to the equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, strengthen health systems and help our countries to respond to future pandemics,” Ramaphosa said.

Brics Bank, also known as the New Development Bank, has provided $2-billion to each of its member countries to support economic recovery during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, as food prices rise across the world, owing to Russia’s war against Ukraine, Brics has implemented a Food Security Cooperation strategy to maintain agriculture production; maintain an unhindered supply of seeds, fertilisers and other agricultural inputs; and maintain access to markets and the stable functioning of food value chains.

“The value of South Africa’s membership of Brics has grown substantially since we joined this group of emerging economies 12 years ago. As we work to rebuild our country in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is much to be gained from our participation in Brics and the relationships we have established with other member countries," Ramaphosa said.

While President Cyril Ramaphosa had the country locked down in June 2020, leaving millions unable to earn a living, he was using taxpayer money to pursue the thieves who stole US dollars from his Limpopo game farm.

This is according to Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen, who has called on the president to end his silence on the matter.

Ramaphosa came under fire after former spy boss Arthur Fraser laid a criminal complaint against him following the break-in at his farm on 9 February 2020.

In his affidavit submitted in June, Fraser claimed that Ramaphosa conspired with the head of Presidential Protection Unit, Major-General Wally Rhoode, to track down the men behind the robbery instead of reporting the matter to the police.

Fraser named Imanuwela David, Errki Shikongo, Petrus Muhekeni, Urbanus Shaumbwako and Petrus Afrikaner as the perpetrators of the heist.

Fraser claimed that the men conspired with the domestic worker to steal the money which was hidden in a couch.

The men were found in Namibia and allegedly tortured, along with the domestic worker, who reportedly conspired with the men to arrange the burglary.

Steenhuisen referred to a Namibian Police (Nampol) statement, which confirmed a meeting with the SAPS in June 2020.

"Clearly, President Ramaphosa has something to hide. He needs to stop hiding behind the false cover of a 'pending investigation' and explain to the nation why he failed to report this massive theft and why he used state resources to try to retrieve his dirty dollars.

"President Ramaphosa is not just dragging his own name through the mud. This scandal is incredibly damaging to South Africa’s image abroad," he said.

According to Nampol, David illegally entered Namibia through an ungazetted entry point near Noordoewer in the Karas region by canoe via the Orange River.

He was then assisted by a police officer identified as Sergeant Hendrick Hidipo Nghede from the Tourism Protection sub-division in Luderitz and Paulus Alfeus Ngalangi, the acting CEO of FishCor in Luderitz to get to Windhoek.

Inspector General Sebastian Ndeitunga said, "The trio drove to Windhoek in the acting CEO’s BMW X5 and arrived after midnight."

He said David was arrested at a hotel in Windhoek on charges of violating the Immigration Control Act and the State of Emergency Regulation that were in place at the time.

Ndeitunga said he was found in possession of N$300, eleven 100 US dollar notes, a TAG Hauer watch worth N$28 000, a Rolex watch worth N$280 000, a gold chain worth N$163 000, and four cellphones.

David pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a fine of N$5 000 or 12 months imprisonment for violating the Immigration Control Act.

He was further fined N$15 000 or 24 months imprisonment under the Customs and Excise Act for failure to declare goods.

Ndeitunga said David paid a fine of N$20 000 and was released.

Steenhuisen also said voters should not protect Ramaphosa out of fear of even worse African National Congress (ANC) leaders waiting in the wings.

"The ANC is dying anyway. Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala scandal is damaging the South African economy and our prospects for creating jobs for the unemployed youth he professes to care about. His Presidency has been characterised as one of consistently putting party before country,” he said.

Ramaphosa has repeatedly said that he will not comment on the matter until due process is completed.

The Presidency has confirmed reports by the Kremlin press service that Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Cyril Ramaphosa had a telephonic conversation on Wednesday to discuss food security.

Ramaphosa's spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, told News24 on Friday morning that the call took place and that the two leaders held a discussion on issues of trade and investment.

"Yes, the conversation took place in the context of the upcoming BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit. The two leaders discussed trade and investment between their respective countries," said Magwenya.

According to a Kremlin press release, the telephonic conversation between the two leaders centred around supplies of agricultural products and fertilisers to Africa after Russia's invasion of Ukraine scrambled global markets.

"Issues of food security, including supplies of Russian agricultural products and fertilisers to the African continent, in particular to South Africa, were discussed in detail," the statement read.

The presidents "also exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine," it added.

"The importance of joint work within the framework of the BRICS group in order to further strengthen the role of this association in world politics and the economy was noted," the statement read.

The Kremlin said Ramaphosa had initiated the call and that the two leaders had agreed to maintain contact.

On Thursday, the Russian News Agency reported that Russia was cooperating with its partners in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and BRICS nations in the green energy area.

This was according to Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin, who was reported to have made the revelation at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday.

"As far as international cooperation is concerned, the climate agenda is relevant in the EAEU. This is a strong integration, containing 180-million people and five integrated economies, with observers and partners.

"It is developing in the same directions that are on the international agenda, from project cooperation, own energy to various areas of services, banking, insurance, investment with the prefix 'green'," he said.

BRICS nations were actively discussing this topic, and "a platform allowing both the research and project work in the future on renewable energy and hydrogen energy is being created," Pankin was quoted as saying.

Earlier this week, during a debate by members of the National Assembly on rising fuel prices, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe suggested that South Africa should look no further than Russia to source cheap crude oil despite mounting international sanctions being imposed on the country for its invasion of Ukraine.

"We should consider importing crude oil from Russia at a low price because it is not sanctioned. Of all the sanctions, there are no sanctions against crude oil, so we can import crude oil from Russia at a lower price," Mantashe said.

Mantashe said that the country should also look at other solutions like gas and oil exploration.