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Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele said Cabinet approved the 100m flagpole at Freedom Park in Pretoria in February as a project that would "bring South Africans together".

"It was not meant to tear us apart," the minister told News24 after the arts and culture department announced it would review the project, following public outrage.

When Cabinet approved the project, there was no determination on the cost of it, Gungubele said.

"The financial issues were to be separate. Cabinet was not involved with that," he added.

Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa has since "directed his department to review the process related to the monumental flag in its totality", a department statement indicated.

Gungubele said they appreciate the minister's commitment to address public concerns.

He added, "We will await the minister's explanation."

Meanwhile, Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Sports said the department reported that R1.7-million was spent on geotechnical studies so far.

"The committee was briefed on the concept on Tuesday, when the project was punted for its contribution [to] job creation and diversifying the South African heritage landscape; things which the committee noted," chairperson Beauty Dlulane said.

Dlulane added that the committee did not have an issue with the intention and motivation behind the concept and that figures were still to be presented in more detail to it.

"But the committee is happy that the department has listened to the public sentiment and thus committed to rethink the concept and the figures involved."

President Cyril Ramaphosa tabled the fourth part of the State Capture Inquiry's report with Parliament on Tuesday - and, in a turnaround from the African National Congress's (ANC's) previous stance, affected committees will deal with the published parts of the report.

"Parliament confirms receipt of Part 4 of the Report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into allegations of State Capture from the President of the Republic today. Previously, the President submitted Part 3 of the Commission's Report, which Parliament is in the process of implementing," reads a statement from Parliament's spokesperson Moloto Mothapo.

"Part 4 of the Report comes at the time Parliament is finalising the process of establishing appropriate systems and mechanisms, consistent with its constitutional function, to oversee the implementation of the report. The report will be published in the Announcements Tablings and Committees (ATC) of Parliament for the attention of Members.

"The Rules Committee, on the other hand, will at the appropriate time determine how best to process the report and the accompanying implementation plan once they are submitted on or before August by the President."

Mothapo said, "In the interim, committees of Parliament will engage with the publicly available reports in their ordinary course of business."

News24 reported on Monday that influential ANC MP, chair of chairs Cedric Frolick, and ANC MP in National Council of Provinces, Winnie Ngwenya, have been referred to Parliament's Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests for their part in the Bosasa-scandal.

This was after a legal opinion from Parliament's legal services sat on Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula's desk for almost two months.

Democratic Alliance deputy chief whip Siviwe Gwarube's attempts to get Parliament to deal with the published reports, as it pertains to Parliament, were stonewalled by senior ANC MPs on the National Assembly Programming Committee.

The ANC alleged Parliament could only deal with the full report after Ramaphosa tabled it, with an implementation plan four months after its completion. This meant that Parliament would only look at it in mid-October.

The legal opinion did not advise this, and neither did Ramaphosa when he tabled part three of the report in March.

In another statement, Mothapo confirmed that Parliament is in "the process of establishing appropriate systems, consistent with its constitutional function, to process and oversee the implementation of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture Report".

He also confirmed the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests "has been requested to investigate possible contraventions of the Code of Ethical Conduct and Disclosure of Members' Interest for Assembly and Parliament Council Members".

"This applies only to current members who were serving in Parliament when any alleged transgressions took place."

He didn't name Frolick and Ngwenya.

Frolick has recently been elected as co-chair of the ad hoc committee that will exercise oversight over the state of disaster after the floods in KwaZulu-Natal, despite the Zondo cloud over his head.

Mothapo said that, while the official submission of the reports is awaited, Parliament has already started working on systems based on publicly available copies of the reports.

"Parliament's research department is currently processing the reports, summarising them into, among others, action plans to improve Parliament's execution of its constitutional mandate consistent with the corrective measures contained in the reports.

"Parliament's Legal Services department has conducted an analysis of the reports and has generated a legal opinion, proposing a process Parliament should follow in dealing with the reports once officially submitted."

He said Parliament had an obligation to implement corrective measures from the commission's reports, with regard to areas where Parliament had a role to play.

"Similarly, Parliament has a responsibility to...

A Western Cape High Court judge asked Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's lawyer whether she was alleging that Chief Justice Raymond Zondo lied.

The court is hearing Mkhwebane's application for an interdict to prohibit Parliament's Section 194 Committee from continuing with her impeachment proceedings and to prevent President Cyril Ramaphosa from suspending her.

This comes after the committee decided to forge ahead, despite Mkhwebane's initial application to the Constitutional Court for a rescission of its decision, which effectively gave Parliament the green light to continue.

The matter was suspended on 26 April after it emerged that self-described legal analyst Ismail Abramjee sent an SMS to Parliament's counsel, advocate Andrew Breitenbach, SC.

It read, "Hello Adv Breytenbach (sic). Re: The Public Protector case tomorrow. I have it on very good authority that the ConCourt has declined to hear the Public Protector's rescission application. The decision will be made known sometime this coming week but not later than Friday. I thought I'd just share this with you on a strictly confidential basis. Thanks."

On Wednesday, Mkhwebane's advocate, Dali Mpofu, SC, described the SMS as "the biggest scandal to ever hit our courts".

As it turned out, the Constitutional Court announced that it would not hear Mkhwebane's rescission application a week later than Abramjee predicted.

Mkhwebane has since applied for the initial rescission decision to be rescinded.

Mpofu argued, "The mere fact that the judgment is delated by a week, cannot by any stretch of the imagination be read to mean that what Mr Abramjee was saying was not going to happen on the 29th if it had not been outed. So let's just stop there."

He said Zondo gave an interview to the SABC on 28 April.

"He said he was asked three times: 'Has the decision been made?' He gave three different answers.

Mpofu said the first time after the question was asked, Zondo said the matter was pending and the Constitutional Court would announce the decision when ready.

"Let's pause there, he doesn't say decision isn't made," Mpofu said.

The second time, Zondo said the Constitutional Court would announce when a decision is taken.

Judge Nathan Erasmus said Mpofu was, by implication, saying Zondo was lying.

"No. No, no, no, no," Mpofu responded.

"How else must I read it?" Erasmus said.

Mpofu said, "Well I don't know [Judge] Erasmus."

Mpofu added that Zondo didn't give a "clear and unambiguous answer" and that Mkhwebane, owing to her confusion, instructed her attorneys to write a letter to the Constitutional Court to gain clarity.

"This is as clear as mud," Mpofu said.

He said the letter Mkhwebane's attorneys sent was a "nice letter".

He added that the answer they got was that the court didn't want to engage. This came on the same day as the court's rescission decision.

"It's not a fighting letter."

"What should concern you is a situation where there is a possibly - I wouldn't put it higher than that - there is a possibility that someone on the Constitutional Court leaked a judgment to influence you - this court."

The matter will continue on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday has also been set aside for it.

Erasmus is hearing the matter with Judges Mokgoatji Dolamo and Derek Wille.

After surviving a fresh fight for her to be forced to resign following her election as African National Congress (ANC) eThekwini chair, Zandile Gumede believes the ANC's contentious step-aside rule should be debated and finalised at the party's policy conference in July.

The step-aside rule continues to cause intense debate in the ANC, especially after the party fine-tuned the rule. Gumede has a keen interest in how the party decides to cement the step-aside rule as it could decide her political future.

The latest debate on the step-aside rule took place at the ANC's national working committee meeting on Monday, where calls were made for newly elected ANC leaders Gumede and ANC Mpumalanga provincial treasurer Mandla Msibi to be forced to vacate their positions.

The two were elected before the party's national executive committee (NEC) decided that criminally affected members should be barred from contesting leadership positions.

The original "step-aside" guideline had only recommended that implicated members step aside.

Still, with the ANC's elective year gaining steam, the party had moved to address the issue of criminally accused members being elected to powerful positions.

There were questions and discussions on whether Gumede and Msibi should resign, considering they were elected after the amended step-aside guidelines.

News24 understands that both politicians survived efforts to have them removed from the positions.

The ANC was expected to hold a national executive committee meeting in June.

The recommendation on criminally charged members not being allowed to stand for elective positions would likely be further debated.

The matter was also expected to be a discussion topic at the ANC policy conference in July, where members were expected to finalise the party's position on it.

Speaking to News24 on Wednesday, Gumede said she believed the step-aside rule should be settled at the ANC's policy discussion at the July conference.

Gumede declined to comment on the push to force her resignation.

She faces corruption charges in a drawn out case involving a R320-million solid waste tender.

Meanwhile, Msibi faces attempted murder charges linked to an August 2021 shooting in Mbombela.

While he had previously denied any involvement in the shooting, Msibi declined to be drawn on discussions that he too should resign on Wednesday.

Gwen Ramokgopa, the coordinator in the office of the secretary-general of the ANC, described Msibi's election by branches, despite the criminal charges he faced, as "unfortunate".

According to the latest data from the Central Energy Fund, petrol and diesel prices currently look set for large increases in the first week of June.

Adding to the blow is the return of the full general fuel levy (GFL), which government cut by R1.50 per litre for two months. The levy is supposed to be restored at the end of May.

This will increase the levy for petrol from R2.35 to R3.85 per litre. The levy on diesel will be hiked from R2.20 to R3.70 per litre.

In addition, based on current data from the CEF, petrol is expected to increase by between R1.93 and R1.97 a litre, diesel is expected to increase by between R1.60 and R1.62 a litre, and illuminating paraffin is expected to climb by a R2.14 a litre.

The Automobile Association (AA) says together with the return of the general fuel levy this will "result in price shocks never seen before".

In combination, the petrol price could be around R3.47 a litre more expensive than current levels.

"In late March government reduced the GFL by R1.50 for April and May which brought temporary relief to consumers. The big question now is how government plans to deal with rising fuel costs from June onwards, especially given that baseline prices are forecast to move significantly upwards in June," notes the AA.

The association says it must be noted that these price increases reflect data from the middle of the month, and that the final data may vary between now and when the adjustment is finally made.

Local fuel prices are determined by international oil prices, as well as the dollar-rand value, as South Africa buys oil in dollars.

The rand is currently trading around its worst levels since November last year, while Brent crude remains close to $110 per barrel.

The AA says while government’s relief on the GFL was welcome, a longer-term solution is needed. It says when government announced the relief in March, it also noted other measures proposed by the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy to be introduced after the expiry of the temporary measures.

"We are rapidly nearing the end of May and the fuel outlook is looking bleak. Government needs to address this issue sooner rather than later; consumers are anxious about what lies ahead, and government should allay these concerns by indicating as early as possible what steps it will be taking to mitigate against rising fuel costs," says the AA.

Petrol and diesel prices have surged by more than a third over the past year.

Government has hit back against claims made by the Democratic Alliance (DA) that National Treasury is refusing to release funds to the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) provincial government for disaster relief.

Government Communication Information System (GCIS) spokesperson Phumla Williams said the allegations are “mischievous and unwarranted” as government and society pull together to rebuild the lives of those affected by the floods.

KZN was recently hit by devastating floods that have claimed more than 400 lives and severe infrastructure damage.

The Disaster Management Act caters for the reprioritisation of funds in the event of a disaster such as the recent floods.

The reprioritisation of funds are also in line with government’s budgeting system.

Williams explained that government embarked on a phased approach following the floods, beginning with immediate humanitarian relief and moving on to reconstruction and repair.

“The R1-billion referred to by President Cyril Ramaphosa relates to funding that is catered for in the 2022 Division of Revenue Bill for immediate response through the Provincial Disaster Response Grant and the Municipal Disaster Response Grant,” Williams said.

While the reprioritisation of funds from budgets were used to fund immediate needs, Williams pointed out that there is process that must be followed to unlock these funds.

This includes provinces and municipalities making applications for these funds to the National Disaster Management Centre and Department of Human Settlements, which will process them before submitting the applications to Treasury.

Further, the procuring departments will have to ensure that procurement and supply chain processes are strictly followed.

Government has also put in place additional monitoring measures, through the Auditor-General of South Africa to ward against corruption.

Williams said government urged all stakeholders and commentators to engage with factual information and to not create panic and confusion.

It's been more than a month since former president Jacob Zuma's lawyers filed an application for appeal court president Mandisa Maya to reconsider the dismissal of his latest legal attack on prosecutor Billy Downer – but she has yet to even see it.

This emerged in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday morning, when the long-awaited corruption case of Zuma and French arms company Thales was postponed to a holding date of 1 August to await Maya's decision, as well as further legal action from Zuma's lawyers, should she rule against him.

After Downer informed Judge Piet Koen that he had twice confirmed that no decision on Zuma's reconsideration application had been made, Koen – who himself served as an Appeal Court judge – responded that he was "a bit surprised" because the application had been filed on 11 April "and normally these matters are dealt with pretty quickly".

Koen then asked Downer, "Can you confirm that, as much as. the application was filed with the registrar, we have got the stamp, has it been confirmed that it's made its way to the desk of the president (Maya)?"

Downer answered: "The last message that I received from the registrar was that it was on its way to the president. The reason for the delay is unclear to me. It's not our mandate to interrogate that. But it has been received, the papers are ready and they are on their way to the president."

Koen asked: "And when was that Mr Downer?"

Downer responded: "That was yesterday (Monday)".

Downer subsequently confirmed that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had chosen not to file a response to Zuma's multi-pronged appeal application – which primarily concerns the former president's campaign to have Downer removed as prosecutor – precisely "to speed along the process and we urged that the matter be speeded up".

"We did, with respect, what we could to ensure that we had a result today, but be that as it may, we don't have a result today," he added.

As a result of the potential delays caused by the finalisation of Zuma's ongoing and possible further appeals, Koen then suggested that it was advisable for his trial to be postponed to August, rather than the June date initially agreed on by the State and defence.

Now that Zuma's reconsideration application was on Maya's desk and "without putting her on terms", Koen said he expected that a decision on it would be made "pretty shortly".

"I am in the court's hands," Downer said, before adding that "naturally, the State is dismayed.with the length of the postponements, with the effect on the administration of justice."

"I could stand here and make an argument that it's all too much," he said.

Koen answered that he was "also concerned about the delays" and their impact.

Nonetheless, he reiterated his belief that the provisions of the Superior Courts Act did not enable him to continue with the Zuma trial, while the former president was engaging in an attempted appeal process.

This was despite the fact that he did not believe there was "any substance" to the attempted appeals, he said.

"So all we can do is sit out this process of further appeals or further applications along the path of appeals. I can't affect that in any way. Obviously, it must just be pursued in accordance with the time limits and the rules of court," Koen said.

In response, Downer stressed that the NPA did believe that Koen had a discretion to continue with its case against Zuma while he was attempting to appeal the special plea dismissal ruling given against him.

As a result of Koen rejecting that argument, he said, "we are now in precisely the sort of situation that we wanted to avoid".

Downer further stressed that it was important that, once a date for the trial to start was finally established, "it actually starts".

"We would also urge the court, even at this stage, that this can't happen every time there's some order by the court during the trial, that matters are taken up and down the superior courts to challenge those o...

President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that additional measures are urgently being put in place to provide financial support to businesses in distress, following the devastating floods in April.

Heavy flooding wreaked havoc across parts of KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and North West, causing extensive loss of life and damage to property and infrastructure.

Ramaphosa explained that municipal and provincial governments had been working closely with national departments and agencies to enable people to rebuild their lives and to get local economic activity back on track.

He said that there had been considerable progress in fixing key infrastructure supporting the Port of Durban, given its importance to the national and continental economy.

Port traffic has been restored, terminal operations are back at full capacity and work to repair damaged rail infrastructure is underway.

The National Disaster Management Centre has been coordinating all spheres of government in their efforts to provide humanitarian relief to the many households that have been affected by the floods.

Ramaphosa said he was pleased to see non-governmental organisations, businesses and relief organisations joining with government to provide much-needed relief assistance.

Sheltering services are currently being provided to over 7 000 people in the four most affected districts in KwaZulu-Natal and work has started to build temporary residences for affected families on State-owned land parcels in the province for possible resettlement.

Mobile classrooms are being procured so that learning and teaching should not be interrupted for longer than necessary in flood-affected schools.

Work is underway to repair damaged wastewater treatment works, pumpstations and reticulation. Damaged roads are being repaired and eighteen new bridges are planned as part of the Welisizwe Rural Bridges programme.

The Departments of Home Affairs, Health and Social Development have been assisting affected communities to access important services.

Load-shedding will be escalated to Stage 4 on Monday afternoon, Eskom announced. This is owing to a unit at Kusile power station tripping earlier on Monday, taking 720MW of generating capacity with it, Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said.

"While this unit has since returned to service, it will slowly load up to full capacity during the night."

This necessitates Stage 4 load-shedding to be implemented from 17:00 to 22:00, Mantshantsha said.

"Eskom will continue to closely monitor the system, adjust and communicate any changes as may be necessary.

"This morning a generating unit at Hendrina, Tutuka and Kriel power stations were returned to service while a unit each at Arnot Power Station was taken offline for repairs. We currently have 1 904MW on planned maintenance, while another 17 255MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns."

Eskom appealed to all South Africans to help limit the impact of load-shedding by reducing the usage of electricity and to switch off all non-essential items.

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema lambasted Chief Justice Raymond Zondo on Monday, saying he used the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture to further the interests of one African National Congress (ANC) faction against the other.

ANC National Executive Committee member Tony Yengeni has written to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) asking for an investigation into Zondo’s conduct for alleged breach of the Code of Judicial Conduct related to comments made in the fourth part of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture report.

Zondo stated in the report that Cyril Ramaphosa’s election as ANC president at the party’s 54th national elective conference in December 2017, in Nasrec, had saved the party from more damage.

Malema said judges are respected for their legal judgments and not their political views or their political activity.

“We are fully behind Mr Tony Yengeni. We think chief justice Zondo is too forward and has got no limit. We think that he thinks that judges are untouchable that’s why he has given himself a responsibility to enter even the political terrain. What do judges have to do or say with regards to the outcomes of political conferences of political parties? Judges must know the limit and Zondo has got no limit,” Malema said.

He went on to accuse Zondo of being a factionalist that supports Ramaphosa’s second term.

“He is effectively saying if we do not elect Ramaphosa in this December conference we are going to be in trouble,” Malema said.

He called on the JSC’s conduct committee to ensure that Zondo is disciplined the same way former Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng was disciplined when he descended into the terrain of politics.

Public Protector’s Impeachment

Meanwhile, Malema explained that the Section 194 Committee conducting the impeachment inquiry against the Public Protector should postpone its work, as Busisiwe Mkhwebane is still involved with court applications.

Mkhwebane is trying to halt impeachment proceedings against her.

“It is important that every little aspect is satisfied so that the outcome of that Parliament process is not questioned by anyone. If the Public Protector is delaying deliberately trying to make sure that her term of office expires before Parliament could hear the matter, she is denying herself justice because through that process she can be able to deal with some of the allegations that are put against her,” Malema said.

He said Mkhwebane must be taken on review and her reports must be set aside and they must be sustained by courts if the reports are properly researched and investigated.