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Parliament’s Presiding Officers, led by the National Assembly (NA) Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) Chairperson Amos Masondo, on Tuesday indicated that Parliament is ready to host the 2022 State of the Nation Address (SoNA).

President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver his SoNA on Thursday at 19:00 in the Cape Town City Hall. For the first time, the ceremony will be held outside Parliament.

Last month City of Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis officially handed over the City Hall to Parliament’s Presiding Officers following the fire that damaged the NA building, including the NA chamber where the official sittings of the NA and Joint Sittings of both Houses of Parliament are usually held.

The City Hall was declared the Parliament of South Africa precinct from January 31 until February 16.

“As we have stressed from the onset, despite the monumental challenges that confronted us at the beginning of the new year, the business of Parliament must and will continue,” said Mapisa-Nqakula.

She confirmed that Parliament will continue with working in a hybrid with some Members of Parliament (MPs) physically present and others connected virtually for the SoNA.

To navigate Covid-19 regulations, 298 MPs will be seated in the chamber, while a limited number of people will be allowed in the gallery.

Mapisa-Nqakula said the proportional representation of political parties was a key consideration in allocating seats to MPs.

The Presiding Officers of Parliament said they continue to be highly concerned by the torching of State buildings, including Parliament.

Security forces have been deployed and are on high alert.

Guests who have confirmed their attendance include former President Thabo Mbeki; former Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka; and former Speakers of the NA Baleka Mbete, Max Sisulu and Dr Frene Ginwala.

After the President’s address, the two Houses of Parliament will debate the address on February 14 and 15, and the President will reply on February 16.

ActionSA believes the Democratic Alliance-led multi-party coalition’s refusal to work with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) will have detrimental effects on the stability of governance in Ekurhuleni.

It is one of several political parties - along with the DA, African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), Freedom Front Plus and Congress of the People - that have formed coalition governments in all three of Gauteng’s main metros.

The coalition numbers are stable in Johannesburg and Tshwane, but in Ekurhuleni, the margins for governance are shaky.

The DA has 65 seats, ActionSA 15, Freedom Front Plus 8, ACDP 2, Inkatha Freedom Party 3, while Cope has a single seat.

The coalition needs at least 113 seats in Ekurhuleni’s council to meet the 50-plus voting requirements.

ActionSA leaders said on Monday that, because the council numbers were lower for the coalition in Ekurhuleni, the alliance could not successfully pass its upcoming budget in May.

Another fear was that the mayor, Tania Campbell, along with her executive, could be vulnerable to a motion of no confidence at any time.

ActionSA said the solution to this number problem was to work with the EFF.

Party chairperson Michael Beaumont said governance in Ekurhuleni was nearly impossible without the support of the EFF.

He said ActionSA had made this clear to its coalition partners, but there remained resistance to the idea of bowing to the EFF’s wishes.

The DA led the charge making its stance known that it was unwilling to negotiate with the EFF following the municipal elections.

The party's leaders, including John Steenhuisen, had cited previous governance spats in governing Johannesburg as a reason why the EFF could not be trusted.

Herman Mashaba said the DA had requested that he speak to the EFF to determine if they would be willing to have a voting block partnership.

Mashaba said the EFF proposed bringing its 81 seats from all metros to provide the votes needed.

According to Mashaba, the EFF’s only request was that the party’s councillors be elected as chairpersons of oversight committees in the metros.

"The proposal did not involve becoming formal coalition partners, given the widely divergent policy agendas between the concerned parties. Parties in the multi-party coalition declined the proposal without a counter-offer, or even a response," he said.

A meeting with coalition partners last week closed the door on engagements with the EFF, Mashaba said. The meeting concluded that the issue of voting would be left to local councillors to negotiate.

Beaumont said the lack of voting support in Ekurhuleni meant the ANC could make an effort to bring a motion of no confidence forward.

"The mathematical fact is that the support of the EFF is the only viable option for the Ekurhuleni coalition government to survive what is likely to be an ANC sponsored motion of no confidence within the next month or two," he said.

Power utility Eskom has announced that it will implement Stage 2 load-shedding from 21:00 on Monday night until 05:00 on Tuesday.

"Further breakdowns could force Eskom to implement load-shedding sooner or to extend the load-shedding beyond Tuesday morning."

This is due to more breakdowns in generating units, with total breakdowns now amounting to more than 16 000 MW.

"Since midnight we have lost the unit each at Camden, Kusile, Duvha and Matla power stations. Furthermore, the return of a unit at Kusile and two units at Majuba power stations are delayed," Eskom said.

The response by the police and intelligence services to the July unrest was inadequate and insufficient.

This is according to a panel of experts appointed to probe the reasons behind the July 2021 unrest. On Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised the release of the report by the panel led by Professor Sandy Africa.

"The police failed to stop the rioting and looting in July 2021. The reasons for this failure are complex and sometimes not of their making. In some instances, they did not get any intelligence upon which to plan operations," the report read.

"It is not clear why this was so, but one of the reasons may be that at least six members of the senior leadership of CI (Crime Intelligence) were suspended in the period leading up to the outbreak of the violence. It would be difficult for an organisation that had been hollowed out in that manner to rise to the occasion in times of crisis."

The panel found that the unrest took the police, who were inadequately prepared, by surprise, leaving them flatfooted, and with "crowd control equipment" running dry, they could not adapt their tactics.

The panel found that there had been a failure of the relevant state institutions to conduct timely risk assessments, despite the constant attacks on the authority of the state by some individuals and organisations.

It further found that there was a significant intelligence failure to anticipate, prevent or disrupt the planned and orchestrated violence.

"The intelligence appreciation and interpretation of what was building up happened too late, if at all; and as a result, the security services failed to put in place the necessary interventions to detect and disrupt the plans."

The report was scathing of Ramaphosa's executive, stating the lines between the executive authorities and the security services seemed blurred.

"Dysfunctional relationships between ministers and their senior leadership teams in the departments in some cases impeded synergy in the flow of intelligence which affected decision-making," the report noted.

"Mr. President, you asked us to determine whether the response by the security services was timeous, appropriate and sufficient. The answer to that, in respect of the police and the intelligence services, is an unequivocal no. Many reasons were proffered for this failure, but in the end the response remains that they failed to do the necessary to protect life, limb and property. The reasons are set out in the body of our report. The Executive, however, carries some of the blame too and must take responsibility for its lapse of leadership," the report read.

Ramaphosa is expected to outline his course of action in his State of the Nation Address.

The Constitutional Court has ruled that the National Assembly's impeachment proceedings against Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane can proceed.

The court handed down a unanimous judgment in the case where National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and the Democratic Alliance appealed to the court to overturn a Western Cape High Court ruling last year, which found fault with two of the rules for a Chapter 9 head's removal.

The Constitutional Court set aside the High Court ruling that a judge should not be appointed to the independent panel, which should consider whether there is a prima facie case against the Chapter 9 institution's head. But, it did uphold the ruling that the Chapter 9 institution's head is entitled to legal representation during the hearing part of the process.

The apex court dismissed the Public Protector's cross-appeal.

Justice Raymond Zondo said on Friday he knew that heading the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture was going to create enemies for him.

Zondo is one of four candidates being interviewed to fill the position of Chief Justice.

Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng’s term as Chief Justice came to an end in October after ten years.

Zondo was appointed as a judge at the age of 37. He has completed 25 years on the bench.

If appointed, he will only serve two-and-half years given his age. He will be 62 years old in May. He said two-and-a-half years is not a bad thing for the position of Chief Justice.

In his interview on Friday, he said the Constitutional Court should not delay in giving its judgments and added that it must give guidance to the rest of the courts on important legal issues.

He said it was imperative to always try to strike a balance between not taking too long to reach an agreement and at the same time not being dismissive of your colleague’s views to quickly make a judgment.

Zondo said he had made suggestions to his colleagues on how to deal with the backlogs in cases that had reserved judgments.

He also said in the long run the Constitution should be amended to allow judges of the Constitutional Court to have fewer panels with regard to certain matters.

He said this would help dispose of many matters much faster in the same way as in the Supreme Court of Appeal where at times only two judges work on a matter.

Zondo said although the country had made great strides in terms of race, the issue of transformation was still important.

He said he would like to see more black and women judges in the branches of law.

Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla announced on Friday that by the end of February the country would have reached a Covid-19 positivity rate of below 5% which would signal stability, however, he warned that there was an expectation that the fifth wave would break out closer to winter.

Depending on variants of concern, Phaahla said the wave might even break out earlier, adding that only high vaccination coverage will reduce the emergence of more variants.

He said the last 14 days had given the health department a confusing picture.

“We have seen a less resilient decline in infections; the picture being that of a stalemate where there’s no serious decline and yet no worrying rise in infections. Instead of the curve flattening, it has taken the shape of a plateau,” he explained.

The percentage of new cases over the last seven days has decreased by only 0.3%.

The Department of Health’s epidemiologists believe that the stagnation in the slowing down of new infections can be linked to the opening of schools.

Phaahla said it was possible that increased movement after the December holidays, especially as schools reopen, were reasons for this.

“We therefore have reason to be optimistic that as schools settle down and there’s reduced movement of people there will be a faster and sustained reduction of infections,” he said.

Hospitalisation remained stable with just over 5 000 admissions as of Thursday, with over 85% in general wards.

He said at this stage it could be restated that the country’s health facilities were not under pressure from Covid-19.

Meanwhile, 16 districts in the country have shown increased rates of infections in the last seven days. Phaahla also revealed that there have been reports of sub-variants of the Omicron variant.

COVID-19 VACCINATION

South Africa passed 30-million doses administered on Wednesday night, which Phaahla said took longer than they had anticipated but was nonetheless a significant milestone.

People over 60 years continue to lead the vaccination pack at 67.25%, of people aged 50 years and over 63.15% have been vaccinated, the 35 to 49 years come in at 51% and the 18 to 34 cohort sits at 33%.

“We again appeal to all South Africans to seize the opportunity of protecting themselves and those around them now. While the fourth wave remains stable, even though we are not completely out of it, and while the rate remains above 10%, we know that the virus is still very far from being eliminated,” he said.

As the country battles with stage 2 load-shedding, some of the country's biggest municipalities are working to reduce their reliance on Eskom in favour of Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

Eskom this week introduced stage 2 load-shedding due to unplanned breakdowns at some stations. The power utility intends to end load-shedding next Monday morning. CEO André De Ruyter said at a briefing this week that load-shedding was implemented to avoid a "catastrophic blackout".

Meanwhile, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis on Wednesday issued a statement indicating the city's plans to launch new tenders for IPPs within the next two weeks. The procurement documents will also indicate the intended timelines to bring the power to the grid.

"It has become clear to the City of Cape Town that if we wish to halt the damage caused by Eskom’s monopoly over electricity generation, we have to take matters into our own hands. The only way for us to provide reliable and affordable electricity to our residents is to source it from elsewhere," Hill-Lewis said.

The IPPs are part of the city's efforts to reduce load-shedding and its negative impacts. Hill-Lewis stressed that load-shedding comes at the cost of failing businesses, and even job losses. "Load-shedding makes the possibility of meaningful economic recovery ever more remote," he said.

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe had in 2020 gazetted amendments to electricity regulations, allowing municipalities in "good financial standing" to develop their own power generation projects.

The City of Ekurhuleni, in its 2020/21 annual report indicated that 46 IPPs had been awarded tenders to provide additional energy for the city. These projects would enable the city to connect between 150 MW and 680 MW of renewable power to the grid, the report read.

The city, like most municipalities, purchases most of its electricity from Eskom and then resells it to residents and businesses. But given Eskom's electricity supply challenges, it is looking to alternative power sources. "Load-shedding has impacted the economy and the City," Ekurhuleni's annual report read.

The city has also started a programme of installing PV solar lighting in informal settlements. "The City installed 64 578 photovoltaic solar lighting units in about the same number of households during August 2016 – June 2021. These PV solar lighting units could, on a normal day, provide energy to light up four globes and a cell phone charger," the report read. In 2020/21 alone, the city installed 10 015 photovoltaic solar lighting in informal settlements, slightly above its target of 10 000.

The City of Johannesburg similarly wants to reduce its reliance on Eskom, and wants 35% of its power to be sourced from renewable energy by 2030 as part of its Climate Action Plan, Bloomberg previously reported.

In October 2021, the city's former mayor Mpho Moerane launched the Energy Sustainability Strategy, which seeks to bring an additional 500 MW to Johannesburg's grid, from solar, gas and waste-to-energy resources.

Last year the City of Johannesburg entered into a power purchase agreement with independent coal-fired power station Kelvin, which would provide it with 220 MW of power in a bid to offset load-shedding .

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling for an urgent Commission of Inquiry into Eskom as the country moves into a second day of Stage 2 load-shedding.

DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises Ghaleb Cachalia said on Thursday said that he will write to President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan to request an inquiry into Eskom and electricity generation and supply issues.

Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter has warned that Eskom’s operational recovery and sustainability will be protracted and difficult.

Cachalia says in view of these ongoing challenges serious action is needed.

“The time has come to rip the band aid off this festering sore and implement the recommendations of tried and trusted experts – not cadre deployees or political appointments. Any failure to act with urgency will continue to imperil the very lifeblood of the economy, “ he stressed.

Eskom hopes to end Stage 2 load-shedding on Monday as it tries to recover lost units.

Chief Justice nominee, Judge Dunstan Mlambo, says while the South African judiciary is "functional", there is a concerning loss of confidence in the judiciary and the rule of law.

Mlambo, one of four judges vying for the position of Chief Justice, said he had conducted "an environmental scan" of the context of the judiciary today.

He said it was worrying that the judiciary operated in a somewhat "toxic environment" as a result of polarised politics.

"Toxic in the sense that the judiciary is attacked on a number of fronts. Its independence and impartiality are always at stake," he said.

He also told the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) on Thursday that there were unfounded claims of corruption against the members of the judiciary.

Mlambo is the first candidate to openly take on the unsubstantiated attacks faced by the judiciary.

Another worrying challenge, Mlambo said, was growing corruption involving court operations in South Africa.

"Corruption not by judicial officers, but corruption in terms of the usage and the circulation of fraudulent court orders which bear all the resemblance of a proper court order, but when you investigate it, you find out no such matter was heard on a particular date."

"That's an issue that I think requires serious attention because it can erode the legitimacy of the judiciary," he said.

Despite the challenges, Mlambo said he believed the judiciary had lived up to its promise of the Constitution in terms of delivering justice.

"I am proud to have been a member of the judiciary for just over 20 years," he said.

He said if he were to be appointed as the country's Chief Justice, his vision would be to have an efficient and effective judiciary that was independent and able to fulfil its mandate as set out in the Constitution.

He said he also wanted to see effective leadership.

"If appointed, I will expand efforts to ensure that together with colleagues, we will continue to fortify the strength and independence of the judiciary."

Mlambo said he wanted to inspire and motivate judges and magistrates to deliver on their mandate.

As head of the judiciary, he said, he would also ensure that it developed strategies aimed at protecting the legitimacy of the judiciary and "countering the threats to our legitimacy".