
NPA's Batohi yet to give a decision on representations made by Mapisa-Nqakula
JOHANNESBURG - National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi is yet to give a decision on representations made by former National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
Mapisa-Nqakula returned to the Pretoria High Court on Friday for her corruption and money laundering case.
READ: Corruption-accused Mapisa-Nqakula changes lawyers; case postponed to June
She is accused of receiving R1.7 million in kickbacks in exchange for tenders when she was the defence minister.
On Friday, the court was set to receive an update on submissions Mapisa-Nqakula made to Batohi's office, but State prosecutor Paul Louw addressed Judge Papi Mosopa on the process.
Mosopa: "That process is not yet finalised?"
Louw: "My lord, I do not know."
Mosopa: "Are you not being kept abreast?
Louw: "What I have been told is that the decision will be imminent next week."

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

IOL News
2 days ago
- IOL News
Jacob Zuma's Double-Edged Spear Thwarts Floyd Shivambu's Ambition
MKP President Jacob Zuma gives journalists the thumbs up at a media briefing held in Durban on June 4, 2025. The Party announced the removal of its Secretary-General Floyd Shivambu and his redeployment to the National Assembly as an ordinary MP. Image: Tumi Pakkies/Independent Media Zamikhaya Maseti The firing of Floyd Shivambu yesterday did not come as a surprise. In truth, Floyd penned his political obituary the day he walked into the MK Party and emerged as its General Secretary. That was not a promotion, it was a political coffin lined with velvet. But the real reckoning is still coming. The VBS scandal, so long buried under layers of delay, distraction, and legal gymnastics, will soon come to trial. And when it does, Jacob Zuma will do what he always does, drop the dead weight before it begins to stink. He will ask Floyd to step aside in the interest of the MK Party. That will be the final burial. Hamba Kahle Mkhonto, not with a song, but with a court docket. Floyd Shivambu's political execution was triggered by his clandestine trip to Malawi to attend a church service led by none other than Shepherd Bushiri a fugitive preacher facing serious allegations of rape, sexual exploitation, and financial fraud. That was too far even for Zuma's elastic ethics. Floyd Shivambu, the self-proclaimed Marxist sitting cross-legged in the sanctuary of a Pentecostal profiteer, clapping hands for a man accused of sodomising and brutalising young girls. This is not merely a lapse in judgment, it is a moral implosion. Those who read and understand the Marxist-Leninist Theory, not just name-drop, know that religion is not just 'the opium of the people.' It is the ideological glue of the very Bourgeois order Marxism exists to oppose. You cannot be a revolutionary on Monday and a prophet's disciple on Sunday. You cannot shout 'radical economic transformation' at Parliament and whisper 'Amen' at the altar of a millionaire scammer who preaches submission to the Capital, patriarchy, and magical thinking. Floyd failed the revolutionary morality test. His trip to Bushiri's church was not a mere detour. It was a confession, silent but deafening, that he had no centre. This is where Jacob Zuma, for all his faults, showed leadership and political decisiveness. Love him or hate him, and most people fall somewhere in between, he has demonstrated that, despite his numerous challenges and well-documented shortcomings, in the MK Party, his political outfit, he will not tolerate ideological bankruptcy or political dishonesty. By firing Floyd Shivambu, Zuma did what many South Africans expected the moment Shivambu returned from that ill-advised pilgrimage to Bushiri's church. It was not just poor judgment; it was a violation of public morality. And Zuma, sensing the national mood, played his move with chilling precision. One must admit, that Zuma is, without a doubt, a political chess master. He understands the terrain. He studies the map. He waits. And then he strikes. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ He did not flinch at the first sound of public outrage. He did not rush to satisfy the noise of social media or the murmurs of political insiders. No. Zuma sat still. He waited for the moment when he, not the nation, was ready. Then he acted. And when he did, the message was clear: in the Kingdom of Nkandla, there is only one strategist, only one tactician, and only one general. He understands the art of war, and more importantly, the art of timing. Shivambu may have embarrassed the MK Party publicly, but Zuma buried him strategically. There is, however, a serious downside to Zuma's political strategy; he is wielding a double-edged spear. Yes, he is decisive. Yes, he reads the battlefield well. But the very authoritarianism that gives Zuma the upper hand in the short term may well lead to the MK Party's long-term implosion. Undoubtedly, many within the MK Party are now unsettled. Their futures hang in limbo. The spectre of arbitrary dismissal haunts even the loyalists. No one is safe not from embarrassment, not from demotion, not from the sudden twist of a knife dressed as a song. This is not leadership by consensus. It is Stalinism dressed in camouflage. And Stalinism, as history has shown us, always leads to demoralisation, disillusionment, and eventually, decay. The full swing of musical chairs, where today's hero is tomorrow's exile, will only erode talent and collapse morale. Let's not forget these are men and women with families, responsibilities, and dreams. The stress of living under constant political threat, especially in this suffocating economic climate, will eventually take its toll on them, individually and collectively. This tired line that 'political deployment is not employment' is outdated, exhausting, and frankly, dishonest. It fails to acknowledge that politicians are human beings too, with aspirations, commitments, and material needs. To pretend otherwise is to invite hypocrisy. Political deployment is labour, and those deployed are not pawns; they are professionals, cadres, and citizens. They deserve respect, not permanent precarity. It may appear, for now, that members of the MK Party are content with these purges. That they clap as Comrades are fired. But don't be fooled. That is fear, not approval. That is survivalism, not loyalty. Zuma's Stalinist approach is unsustainable and will inevitably face a serious internal ideological offensive, as there are tried and tested Communists within the MK Party. If they surrender their ideological discipline just to stay in Zuma's good graces, then they are betraying more than themselves. They are betraying the memory of the Communist International. They are betraying a generation. And if that is the path the MK Party takes, then history will not be kind. As I conclude, it is imperative to surface what might well be the most consequential development regarding the MK Party: it now finds itself, by sheer electoral outcome and political reconfiguration, as the Official Opposition Party. This status is not merely symbolic; it carries with it a constitutional weight and a historic responsibility. With the Democratic Alliance (DA) having opted to join the Government of National Unity (GNU), the DA has effectively vacated the oppositional bench it once occupied with forceful intensity. The MK Party, however, has not yet settled into this new role. It is not combative, nor intellectually coherent, in the manner the DA once was in opposition. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), with all their contradictions, are currently outpacing the MK Party in opposition performance.


The Citizen
3 days ago
- The Citizen
More than R140 million in salaries paid to suspended government employees
National departments paid nearly R51 million to suspended government employees, while provincial departments spent more than R90 million in the 2024/25 financial year. Government has paid more than R140 million in salaries to employees who have been placed on precautionary suspension during the 2024/25 financial year. This is according to public Service and Administration Minister Mzamo Buthelezi, who was accounting to the National Assembly during the Governance Cluster question and answer session on Wednesday. Buthelezi said as of the end of the fourth quarter of the 2024/25 financial year, national departments paid R50 945 064 to the suspended employees while provincial departments spent R90 469 562. The minister was responding to Al Jama-ah member of parliament (MP) Shameemah Salie, who had asked what the current estimated total cost of ghost employees and suspended employees on the payroll of government was. Ghost employee audit still incomplete Salie also asked what work had been done prior to the Budget Speech to recover funds lost from paying fraudulent salaries. Buthelezi said the total cost associated with ghost workers had not yet been determined. 'This cost will only become known once a comprehensive employee verification process across public service has been completed and the financial implications accurately calculated,' he said. 'However, the Department of Public Service and Administration and National Treasury are jointly leading this exercise, and once the report is finalised it will be shared with the relevant parliamentary committee and this house.' Salie further said the issue of ghost workers had been an ongoing battle for decades and had resulted in millions being lost per yearly. ALSO READ: Gauteng health freezes 66 salaries in ghost employee crackdown 'We urge the minister and all relevant departments to ensure an audit across government and to provide frequent feedback on findings surrounding ghost workers, prosecution of and recovery of funds from these entities,' Salie sad. Buthelezi defends 'bloated' public service wage bill ANC MP Pumelele Ndamase asked what the overall impact of ghost workers was, in which departments they were mostly found and whether Buthelezi's department is actually aware of how ghost employees end up being in the employ of the state. The public service is often accused of being bloated, Ndamase said, while simultaneously struggling to meet the demand of South Africans. In response, the minister said while it is widely believed that the public service wage bill is too high, the department has a different view. 'We do have many vacant posts in the department and many departments who are struggling to even employ because they have a shortage of staff members, because the government cannot afford to pay their salaries,' Buthelezi said. 'So, the issue of a bloated public service wage bill is not necessarily the case, but we do appreciate the fact that we view that as such because our economy is not growing at the rate that it should.' He said the challenges of the country's stagnant economic growth had a bearing on the expenditure where public employees are concerned. Thorough investigation With regard to the departments affected by ghost employees, Buthelezi repeated that there were currently no statistics, but the department is engaged in a thorough investigation. Before posing his question, Rise Mzansi's Stanford Makashule Gana Minister said the 'ghost employees' should be referred to appropriately – public servants who 'give themselves more than one salary'. ALSO READ: R6 million in salaries paid to ghost workers in Mpumalanga 'Trigger-happy managers' Gana finally asked if the Buthelezi's department is considering attaching cost orders to managers who are trigger happy and quick to suspend public servants who don't deserve to be suspended. 'As a department, when it comes to managers who simply suspend employees willy-nilly, we have come up with a directive that says whenever there is an employee that is alleged to have committed a particular offence, instead of suspending that person and continuously get a salary, that person must be transferred to another department or unit,' Buthelezi responded. He said he was not aware of public servants earning more than one salary and that the department is putting systems in place to curb wastage. Redundancy audit Heloise Denner, FF Plus MP, asked if the department had considered or assessed the feasibility of implementing an audit to identify redundant posts within the public service in order to reduce costs. In response, the minister said the department is already putting systems in place to deal with redundancy. He said that the departments need to first consult the Department of Public Services and Administration whenever there's a post to fill. '[This is so that] we look into whether or not there is a need for that particular post or if it means they redefine their organogram,' Buthelezi said. '[They must] also consult with National Treasury to see that there are funds available so that we prevent departments from employing people for posts which do not add any value into the system,' he added. NOW READ: 'It's a scam': Mbalula says Prasa's ghost workers saga to be referred for criminal investigations


Eyewitness News
3 days ago
- Eyewitness News
Parliament's finance committee approves fiscal framework, revenue proposals underpinning budget
CAPE TOWN - Parliament's standing committee on finance has approved the fiscal framework and revenue proposals that underpin the 2025 budget, setting the scene for the less contentious adoption of its report in the National Assembly than was the case in March. Following two days of deliberations, the African National Congress (ANC), Democratic Alliance (DA) and ActionSA voted in favour of the report. However, the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) dug in their heels saying the fuel levy is an unnecessary inclusion that will impact the poor. Wednesday's joint meeting of the finance committees of both houses was far less tense than when it considered an earlier version of the budget framework, which contained a value-added tax (VAT) increase that split the Government of National Unity (GNU). ALSO READ: Main opposition parties reject Treasury's assertion of pro-poor budget However, opposition parties took issue with the increase in the fuel levy, which was included in this third version of the budget tabled by the finance minister two weeks ago. The MK Party's Brian Molefe said other means could have been found to raise R4 billion in a R2 trillion budget. "The fuel levy is regressive and it is not pro-growth, because the fuel levy dampens consumption, expenditure, and it is inflationary as well." After losing Tuesday's court case on the matter, the EFF's Omphile Maotwe made one last appeal for the committee to retract the increase. "If we can stand up and say we reject the fuel levy, that's something we can give the people of South Africa." But with no support to force the finance minister's hand again, both opposition parties rejected the fiscal framework and the committee's report, which will be put to a house vote next Wednesday.