Polity.org.za Audio Articles

In his Easter message to the nation, President Cyril Ramaphosa called on people to take care of each other over the long weekend.

"During this time of prayer and reflection, let us take care of ourselves; be it on our roads, at places of worship and at other gatherings. Most importantly, let us take care of each other," he said.

He asked people to pray and offer material help to communities in KwaZulu-Natal in particular, where flooding left countless people destitute.

"This year we are blessed by the confluence of Easter, the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover. It is a time in which millions of South Africans are exercising their faith and identity as part of our national diversity," he said.

"For many, Easter is a time for worship, for family and for exploring our beautiful country. But for the less privileged and vulnerable, this can be a time when hardship and loneliness is laid bare."

He said the government was helping the affected communities, and would continue to monitor the situation.

He also reminded people to observe public health regulations to protect themselves against Covid-19, and to ensure that they are vaccinated.

Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla on Thursday announced the extension of the public comment period on the proposed amendments to the National Health Act to allow the public to make submissions on platforms such as WhatsApp.

The regulations are part of the government’s transition plans from the National State of Disaster, which had been in effect for over two years. The new regulations will effectively act as a new instrument for government to manage the current Covid pandemic and future pandemics.

President Cyril Ramaphosa ended the National State of Disaster earlier this month, after 750 days of it being enacted and announced interim safety protocols in its place.

South Africans were initially given until 16 April to make their inputs on the proposed changes to the health regulations but now have until April 24.

“In addition to the email that was used for commenting, people can also use WhatsApp to comment on the changes,” said Health Department director-general Sandile Buthelezi.

Phaahla said that since the breakout of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, government looked at ways in which it could provide guidance to the country and public in terms of public health measures.

He noted that as the severity of the pandemic lowers, government has found it necessary to end the use of the Disaster Management Act and ask various departments to look at other regulations that could still assist with public health measures to ensure that government reduces the risk and severity of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As part of efforts to manage transmission during large gatherings, continued restrictions will be placed on night vigils and after-funeral gatherings.

Indoor and outdoor gatherings may be occupied up to 50% of the venue capacity, provided valid vaccine certificates are produced.

For gatherings where no valid vaccine certificates are required, artificial limits of 1 000 and 2 000 people will apply for indoor and outdoor gatherings, respectively.

Face masks will be compulsory for indoor gatherings, with the regulations specifying that people cannot enter public premises or use public transport without a mask.

Substantive comments must be sent to e-mail: [email protected] or website link:/ or send the word comment to WhatsAPP number: 060 012 3456

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana are in open and public disagreement over the process that led to the sale of 51% of South Africa Africa (SSA) to private consortium Takatso, which was negotiated last year.

While Godongwana’s director-general Dondo Mogajane has said that National Treasury played no role in the selection of Takatso, Gordhan says this is untrue and that there were "intensive consultations" between officials from the two departments.

The spat is playing out in an exchange of letters between the two ministers and Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa). The letters reveal some information about the SAA sale, but stop far short of revealing the terms and conditions of the transaction, which remain secret. In terms of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), the concurrence of the minister of finance is required when a state-owned entity disposes of shares or makes an acquisition.

The first letter from Mogajane to Scopa was written in March in response to questions from MPs over Treasury’s role in the transaction. In it, Mogajane said:

It is important that the committee notes that NT [National Treasury] has played no role in the selection process of the Strategic Equity Partner, including the conceptualisation, negotiation and finalisation of the terms and conditions relating to the transaction. NT has raised concerns in relation to some of the terms and conditions, agreed to between the preferred entity and the Department of Public Enterprises [DPE]. It must also be noted that the NT was only consulted after the DPE had concluded the Memorandum of Understanding and agreed on the principles of the transaction with the selected SEP.

The committee then wrote to Gordhan asking him to clarify the process of selecting Takatso and, in particular, to provide details of the transaction. Gordhan replied last week to say that he "respectfully disagreed" with the Treasury’s letter.

Gordhan 'not obliged' to consult Godongwane

Gordhan said that he had received internal legal advice that he was not obliged to consult the minister of finance as it was the Department of Public Enterprises, and not SAA itself, which was disposing of an equity stake. However, he had nonetheless written to Godongwana on 27 August 2021 - not out of legal obligation, but simply to keep him informed of the transaction.

"Although this was not an application in terms of Section 54 of the PFMA, as a courtesy, the concurrence of the minister of finance was sought. Intensive consultations on the matter of Section 54 took place between officials of DPE and NT."

Gordhan’s letter then goes on to state this had been acknowledged by Godongwana in a letter he wrote on 4 February this year, in which Godongwana restated the legal opinion that his concurrence was not necessary.

In his letter, Gordhan acknowledges publicly for the first time that the Takatso transaction is not yet completely in the bag as it is subject to a conditions precedent, one of which is that Treasury provides a further R3.5-billion of funding for the airline.

The Treasury has played hardball on the request for further funding, to which it has not yet agreed. It was turned down by former finance minister Tito Mboweni in February last year and again by current incumbent Godongwana in November last year and February this year.

In his letter, Gordhan implies that the R3.5-billion was always part of the requirement for SAA’s business rescue, which he says carried a price tag of R14-billion. But, the business rescue plan, as approved by creditors, stated that the full amount required was R10.5-billion. Treasury has provided SAA with that amount and repaid all of its guaranteed debt.

This brought taxpayer funding for SAA to R50.7-billion in 2003.

Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Alf Lees, who is behind Scopa's requests for information from Godongwana and Gordhan, has expressed outrage that Gordhan has again refused to provide the details...

The Jacob Zuma Foundation is hopeful that, despite the former president's ill health, doctors will allow him some time to spend at home with his family.

Jacob Zuma turned 80 on Tuesday and, due to his ill health, was unable to attend the first day of his corruption trial in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg on Monday.

On Monday, foundation spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi told journalists that Zuma's medical condition had worsened, resulting in him being unable to attend court proceedings in person.

Zuma, however, waived his right to be in court so the judge could continue hearing his postponement application.

"His achievements over many decades are too numerous to mention and all the peace-loving South Africans and the people the world over, have a special place in their hearts for him. We hope that despite his ill-health, doctors will allow him some time to spend at home with his family. The foundation will compile his 80 birthday memoirs," Manyi said.

He added that the foundation was requesting the nation to keep Zuma in their prayers for a speedy recovery.

Zuma was advised by his doctors not to attend Monday's court proceeding at the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg where he is facing charges of corruption.

The former president is facing criminal charges in connection with his role in the arms deal during the 1990s.

During Monday's proceedings, Judge Piet Koen granted Zuma's application for his criminal trial to be postponed.

Zuma is seeking the removal of lead prosecutor Billy Downer from the case.

However, the SCA last month ruled that the trial should go ahead, and that Downer should be allowed to continue as the lead prosecutor.

Zuma's legal representative, advocate Dali Mpofu SC, had argued that the former president's trial should be postponed to allow SCA President Mandisa Maya to rule on his application for the SCA's ruling to be reviewed.

In granting Zuma's application, Koen postponed his trial to 17 May - which the judge said was the "holding date".

Meanwhile on Sunday, Zuma welcomed controversial diamond dealer Louis Liebenberg to his Nkandla homestead.

Liebenberg handed over two cows to Zuma.

In July last year, Liebenberg and his company Tariomix had their bank accounts containing approximately R100-million provisionally frozen by an order of the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, following allegations of money laundering and running a Ponzi scheme.

In March, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) secured the provisional preservation order against bank accounts in the name of Liebenberg, his colleague Ronelle Kleynhans, and Tariomix.

As the fifth Covid-19 wave approaches, the Department of Health says it is keeping a keen eye on variants of concern.

On Tuesday, the department's Director-General, Sandile Buthelezi, said despite new waves, the country was at a point where things could go back to relative normality.

Speaking at the FF Ribeiro in the Pretoria CBD, where the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) pledged to donate R6.8-billion to strengthen South Africa's HIV prevention, care and treatment, Buthelezi said there was no need for South Africans to panic about the current stringent lockdown in China.

The Asian country put in strict lockdowns in Shanghai that had left residents struggling to access to food and medical care.

Buthelezi said: "This is an important time for us in South Africa as we are transitioning out of Covid. We are monitoring our numbers through surveillance and just to ensure we pick up variants of concern. The new waves that come will be determined by behavioural and biological factors. Behavioural is how we look after ourselves and of course biological is new variants. We know that variants mutate."

He said while the department was monitoring new emerging variants, they thought it was also essential to get back to relative normalcy.

"We are at a stage where we think we can go back to normal."

Buthelezi said he did not think South Africa would have an outbreak as bad as China's. He said that was likely because the country had more community immunity than China.

He said South Korea, which had high rates of community immunity, recently went through a new wave and fared better than China.

On Monday, Tulio de Oliveira from the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform, said the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 had been detected locally.

John Blandford, country director for the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in South Africa, said it was important for people to get vaccinated.

"What we know in South Africa is that many people have been exposed to Covid-19 from infection. That is not optimal because that might not give you strong protection as vaccination would.

"It is still important for people to get vaccinated because we don't know what the new variants are going to be like.

"We are hearing that new variants are emerging right now; we don't know how serious they are, how easily transmittable they are. We will learn more as we go forward. Vaccination is our defence."

He said in the drive to ramp up vaccination, it was important to ensure that people had easy access.

"There are a lot of people who are willing to get vaccinated, but it is not accessible. I think it is important to put vaccination sites around things people want to do, like rugby matches and restaurants. They should be at places that allow people to socialise and allow things to get back to normal."

The South African government has requested an opportunity for President Cyril Ramaphosa to speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a long time.

According to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco), Ukraine's Ambassador to South Africa, Liubov Abravitova is not responding.

This is according to Dirco spokesperson Clayson Monyela in response to a video in which Abravitova calls on South Africa to be on the right "side of history" amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"Russia has bombed our schools, our hospitals, our theatres, and our churches. Our cities are in ruins. Even some of my embassy staff have no homes to return to. You need to be on the right side of history. You cannot allow this brutal war to continue. Please stand up for the people of Ukraine," she said.

In response to Abravitova's video, Monyela tweeted: "Ambassador, you know this is wrong and undiplomatic. You met Dirco diplomats on 3 March. [Our] head of Europe branch several times [and the] President's international relations advisor."

Monyela said Deputy Dirco Minister Alvin Botes also met Abravitova.

"We've long made a request for President Cyril Ramaphosa to speak to your President. You're not responding," Monyela tweeted.

Previously, Dirco Minister Naledi Pandor said South Africa could not be seen as taking sides in the conflict after Russia's invasion of Ukraine because it goes against the nation's principles.

In February, Dirco issued a statement in which South Africa called on Russia to immediately withdraw its forces from Ukraine, in line with the United Nations Charter.

Days later, Pandor backtracked on her earlier statement that Russia should withdraw its armed forces from Ukraine.

South Africa has, so far, refused to condemn Russia's aggression, with President Cyril Ramaphosa and Deputy President David Mabuza recently blaming the war in Ukraine on the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's (NATO) eastward expansion, despite the patently false reasons President Vladimir Putin has provided publicly for ordering military action.

Thousands have died in the war, and millions of Ukrainians have fled the country.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that crime cannot be defeated through incitement, violence, intimidation and vigilantism aimed at foreign nationals, and specifically nationals from other African countries.

South Africans and foreign nationals clashed last week after several people were reportedly killed.

Zimbabwean Mbhodazwe Nyathi was also assaulted by a mob and set alight.

Ramaphosa said crime was a serious problem in the country that affected all communities. He said people were justifiably tired of living in fear of criminals.

He said loss of life was deplorable, as was the killing of a fellow African from Zimbabwe.

He added that contrary to what is claimed by some anti-immigration groupings and individuals, the perpetrators of crime are both black and white, male and female, foreigner and citizen.

“Crime, not migrants, is the common enemy we must work together to defeat,” the President said.

He acknowledged that many communities were frustrated by the apparent inability of the police to deal with criminals, adding that government was capacitating the police with the recruitment of 12 000 additional police officers.

Government is also re-establishing community policing forums across the country.

“Even as we intensify our fight against crime, there is no justification for people taking the law into their own hands. At the same time, we recognise that illegal migration poses a risk to South Africa’s security, stability and economic progress. Illegal migration affects service delivery and places additional burdens on essential services such as health care and education,” he said.

Like any sovereign nation, Ramaphosa explained that South Africa had the right to implement policies and measures that guarantee the integrity of its borders, protect the rights of South Africans and provide that all who reside in its borders had a legal right to be here.

Controlling migration was the responsibility of government, he said and stressed that no private citizen may assume the role of immigration or law enforcement authorities by demanding that foreign nationals produce identification.

He said enforcement of migration legislation was a priority for government and that government was working to ensure that syndicates perpetrating immigration fraud in collusion with corrupt officials were brought to book.

A South African court on Monday granted a further delay in former president Jacob Zuma's arms deal corruption trial, pending the outcome of his latest attempt to have the lead prosecutor taken off the long-running case.

Zuma, ousted as head of state in 2018 after nine years in power, has pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption, money laundering and racketeering over an $2 billion arms deal in the 1990s.

He alleges the lead prosecutor is biased against him, but the High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) have so far rejected his attempts to have the prosecutor replaced.

Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Piet Koen on Monday adjourned the trial to a holding date of May 17 to allow the president of the SCA to weigh a "reconsideration application" lodged by Zuma last week.

"The adjournment is granted on the basis that if the application ... has been disposed of by 17 May 2022, the trial shall resume at 10 o'clock on 31 May 2022," Koen said.

Zuma was not in court on Monday to hear the judge's order, as the spokesman of the Jacob Zuma Foundation told reporters he had a health issue.

The Defend Our Democracy Campaign on Thursday launched a discussion paper which aims to start a conversation in South African about how democracy can be strengthened.

At the launch, Ahmed Kathrada Foundation head Neeshan Balton said there is need for the renewal of governance in South Africa.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) has also embarked on its renewal campaign ahead of the party’s national elective conference in December.

Balton said that the last time South Africa was involved in such an exercise was when the Constitution was being drafted. He said this long period is an indication that the country does not talk about its democracy.

The Defend Our Democracy Campaign was launched a year ago by prominent politicians and civil society organisations that united and mobilise South Africans to show their disapproval for the lack of accountability relating to corruption.

Balton said the discussion paper is about renewing trust and ownership over politics and resources beyond its politicians and political parties.

He believes that it will start discussions that will help South Africans engage in new ways of political discussions.

“The document will assist South Africans to renew its commitment to the Constitution,” he added.

Bolton stressed that there is a need to take South Africa’s democracy seriously to effectively defend it.

One of the founders of the Defend Our Democracy Campaign Dr Frank Chikane said the paper also aims to reverse the downward spiral the country finds itself in and to recover values that the country lost.

He said what was expected in 1994 has been devasted in the last 14 years.

He claims that even the country’s security forces are captured, as well as those who hold important government positions.

He believes that the discussion paper will help South Africans reimagine the country’s political system and values.

Dr Chikane said the recent release of the Zondo Commission report has demonstrated that there is a need for renewal.

“These days people kill each other for positions. This is not what we struggled for. It was either we lose our freedom or we take a stand to fight for the liberation,” he said.

The director-general of the National Treasury, Dondo Mogajane, who has served government for 23 years, will leave on 7 June when his contract expires.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, who had hoped that Mogajane would stay for a little longer, announced the departure to staff this week.

In a statement on Thursday, Godongwana thanked Mogajane for his service:

Mr Mogajane has served the National Treasury for 23 years of which the last five years have been as the Director-General. Under his leadership, the National Treasury has successfully navigated unprecedented challenges. He has been a dedicated and committed leader who has guided the department in delivering on its mandate of ensuring fiscal sustainability and he is leaving at a time when public finances are recovering from the Covid-19 induced shock.

Mogajane said in an interview on Thursday that he believes that he has done his time in government and wants to move on. This would give others the opportunity to lead and bring in fresh ideas and fresh energy, he said.

In a recent interview with Talk Radio 702, shortly before the final decision was made, Mogajane said it would have been unfair if he had been pressurized to stay.

"I’ve demonstrated my patriotism and my commitment. I don’t expect anyone to say I am letting them down. It is not about letting people down. It is about saying I have done my job, let my contribution be in other ways. We will be responsible in the way we [hand over]."

Godongwana said that the process to recruit a new DG had already commenced and "the department is confident that a worthy successor will be appointed." Several other senior positions that have been vacant for some time would be filled "imminently".

"The National Treasury has a deep reserve of skilled officials with extensive experience who will continue to deliver on the service delivery obligations of the department."