Latest news with #CyrilRamaphosa
News24
2 hours ago
- Politics
- News24
What's in City Press: How Mchunu and Sibiya dodged arrest
How attempts to arrest Mchunu and Sibiya were foiled Members of the political killings task team at the centre of a fight between Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi have tried to have both the minister and deputy national police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya arrested. National Police crisis - Cyril failed to act on two previous reports President Cyril Ramaphosa last week announced the formation of a commission of inquiry into allegations of corruption and political interference within the police, despite having two reports on investigations into similar shortcomings. US told SA as early as May that it won't welcome Jonas as envoy The US government says it refused to engage with Mcebisi Jonas, South Africa's special envoy to the US, as early as May this year and repeatedly requested another envoy for negotiations. Man passes through OR Tambo security with two grenades in his luggage A passenger who boarded an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Johannesburg to Addis Ababa had two training hand grenades in his luggage. These grenades went through undetected by scanners at OR Tambo International Airport. Mondli Makhanya - The great myth of SA's Iran love affair This week, an outfit called Middle East Africa Research Institute (Meari) released a preposterous report purporting to be 'a critical examination of South Africa's enduring and often controversial relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran', and weighing the cost of these ties to this country. Judiciary is too tainted to investigate Mkhwanazi's claims, says Zuma Former president Jacob Zuma's MK Party has dragged President Cyril Ramaphosa to the highest court in the land, alleging that his appointment of an acting police minister was illegal and that none of the members of the judiciary can impartially investigate claims of police and politician corruption. Nurse awarded R27 million after pothole leaves her in wheelchair In a landmark case related to a woman who was paralysed in a car accident caused by a huge pothole in Brits in North West, the Mahikeng High Court has awarded the nurse almost R27 million in compensation to cover ongoing and future medical bills. Government forced to act against online gambling - Sans lost R1,1 trillion in bets Pressure is intensifying on the government to curb the massive rise in online gambling and its devastating impact on South African people as well as its economy. How man lost R2 million to online gambling A Johannesburg man who gambled away about R2 million and nearly lost his life due to this addiction says he would 'stand on the Eiffel Tower with a loudspeaker and warn others against it.' Gayton's golden boy Liam set for Tshwane top job Liam Jacobs, who was still a member of parliament (MP) for the DA last month, was announced this past week as the Patriotic Alliance's (PA) mayoral candidate for the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. Durban businessperson in R2 million dispute with alleged Shepherd Bushiri associates Self-proclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri's friends, businesspeople Moses Dibe and his wife Nathalie Dibe, have become embroiled in a bitter dispute with Durban-based businessperson Scelo Mhlongo, and allegedly owe him R2 million. Emoji chronicles - In which context is the banana being eaten? Forensic phonetics were put under the microscope at the recently held webinar, Beyond the smile: Emojis, communication and misinterpretation in the modern workplace. Bosses pocket millions as SOEs struggle to stay afloat South Africa's struggling state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are bleeding billions in taxpayer money and surviving through perennial bailouts, yet their bosses continue to cash in multimillion-rand pay cheques. What's in City Press Sport: Erstwhile Kaizer Chiefs and Bafana Bafana midfielder Jabulani Mendu believes his break to coach outside SA is a reflection of the solid groundwork laid by Safa's coaching education programme. Having been in the football wilderness over the past few months, a refreshed Monnapule Saleng has hinted that it's just a matter of time before he rediscovers his old self. This week, City Press sat down with Sekhukhune United's football manager, Phineas Madisha, to gain an understanding of the club's operations regarding the signing of players. The alarming trend in local football, of clubs changing hands, is to the detriment of well-established clubs, writes Timothy Molobi. South African athletics stars, Akani Simbine, Prudence Sekgodiso and Jo-Ané du Plessis are not only coining it in the Diamond League, but the trio are well on course in the race for places in the finale of the lucrative competition.
IOL News
2 hours ago
- Politics
- IOL News
Trust in the judiciary: South Africa's crisis of confidence
President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga to chair the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into allegations of corruption in the criminal justice system. Ramaphosa and the ANC have demonstrated that an oath to uphold and protect the Constitution is politically meaningless, says the writer. Image: Independent Media Archives Prof. Sipho Seepe South Africans live in hope. For seven nerve-wracking days, they waited patiently for President Cyril Ramaphosa to address them on one of the most pressing crises the country has faced since 1994. A week earlier, Lt. Gen. Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi had placed the entire criminal justice system on trial. Mkhwanazi implicated the Minister of Police, Senzo Mchunu, top brass, correctional services, senior politicians, and members of the judiciary in an intricate web of crime syndicates and drug cartels. The allegations put the country on the knife-edge. This is the stuff that collapses governments. When Ramaphosa finally faced the nation, the address was characteristically and predictably underwhelming. All opposition parties took potshots at Ramaphosa. Those who were disappointed in Ramaphosa's utterances have themselves to blame. First, Ramaphosa is not a man of courage. He has no backbone. Placed in a prickly situation, his instinct is to choose ANC's interests over those of the country. Second, Ramaphosa and the ANC have demonstrated that an oath to uphold and protect the constitution is politically meaningless. Third, Ramaphosa does not come with clean hands. The Phala Phala farmgate scandal must have weighed heavily on his mind. The independent parliamentary panel, comprising luminaries in law, found Ramaphosa to be possibly guilty of serious misconduct of violating section 96(2)(b) by acting in a way that is inconsistent with his office. Ramaphosa was also found to have violated section 96(2)(b) by exposing himself to a situation involving a conflict between his official responsibilities and his private business. The panel concluded that. 'Viewed as a whole, the information presented to the Panel, prima facie, establishes that (1) There was a deliberate intention not to investigate the commission of the crimes committed at Phala Phala openly.' The damning findings by the former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo-led panel have not triggered the usual knee-jerk reaction that we have come to expect from the self-appointed custodians of constitutionalism. If anything, they have been conspicuously silent and absent. Confronted by the ever-lingering prospect of possible impeachment of Ramaphosa over the farmgate scandal, the ANC did what it does best. It closed ranks and squashed parliament's attempt to establish a Multi-Party Committee to investigate its leader. An annoyed Thabo Mbeki wrote. 'Are we [the ANC] saying that we suspect or know that he (Ramaphosa) has done something impeachable and therefore decided that we must protect our president at all costs by ensuring that no Multi-Party Committee is formed?...... We acted as we did [as if] there was something to hide'. There is no way that Ramaphosa was going to throw Mchunu, one of his supporters, under the bus without facing serious political repercussions. The establishment of a judicial commission of inquiry was the only safe route open to Ramaphosa. It enables Ramaphosa to postpone addressing a tricky political question of dispensing with Mchunu's services. Be that as it may, the inquiry should not prevent the police from conducting criminal investigations against those implicated in the alleged commission of crimes. Neither does the commission absolve parliament of its oversight responsibility. 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 ✕ With a president burdened by allegations of possible criminality, it would be foolhardy to expect that the recommendations of the Madlanga Judicial Commission of Inquiry will be taken seriously. That the country can be held in suspense by a President who has proved to be a constitutional delinquent reflects the pervasive sense of lack of accountability, paralysis, and resignation that grips the nation. South Africans deserve Ramaphosa. No self-respecting country would allow this. South Africans have expressed a sense of inquiry-fatigue. They have witnessed far too many commissions without any of them leading to discernible positive effects. Some commissions were demonstrably weaponised to target certain individuals disliked by the establishment. Ordinarily, had it not been for the fact that Mkhwanazi implicated judges in the commission of corrupt activities, the establishment of a judicial commission would be unquestionable. Matters become complex if one considers the fact that the very judiciary had decided that South Africans cannot be entrusted with information relating to who funded President Ramaphosa's 2017 ANC presidential candidacy. Mkhwanazi's allegations lend credence to the speculations that the reason the CR17 files are sealed is that they may implicate some members of the judiciary or their family members. Ramaphosa is lucky. Each time he asks the courts to seal matters that relate to him, the courts oblige. This raises several questions. What happened to transparency being the lifeblood of democracy? If Ramaphosa is innocent as he pretends, why rush to the courts for cover? Who are the funders and beneficiaries of the CR17 funds? The tendency to obfuscate issues whenever Ramaphosa is involved played itself out at the Constitutional Court. Instead of zeroing in on the bigger picture, the country's esteemed jurists inordinately debated whether the parliamentary panel had established a prima facie or sufficient evidence. Their colleague, Justice Owen Rogers, would have none of it. He contended. 'A person loses 8.7 million Rand, they would want to know who the investigating officer is, and has it been reported to the police. Is there a case pending? It is a common cause that there wasn't… There was a deliberate decision because the president wanted to keep secret the source of the money; that's the background to where the panel was coming from.' This invariably raises the perennial question: Who judges the judges? The former Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng answered that question when he contended that 'one of the things we needed to do as judges is to give reasons for our decisions that an ordinary man can understand. You must be worried when you read a judgment, and you are struggling to make sense of it.... We ought to know that partly, we account to the public through our judgments. Now, if you write in such a way that the public can't even understand what you are doing, what kind of accountability is that? We don't write for lawyers. We don't account to lawyers only; we account to every South African citizen.' The question becomes pertinent given society's growing mistrust of the judiciary. According to the 2018 Afrobarometer survey, 32% of South Africans suspect that judges are involved in corruption. In 2002, the level of mistrust was 15%. Responding to the 2021 Afrobarometer report on the society's loss of confidence in the judiciary, Chief Justice Mandisa Maya argued that 'the judiciary itself needs to do an introspection and check if we are to blame for this change of attitude towards the institution.' The chair of a commission of inquiry must be beyond reproach for the commission to enjoy legitimacy and credibility. For now, we can only speculate. And the picture is not rosy. * Professor Sipho P. Seepe is an Higher Education & Strategy Consultant. ** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL, Independent Media or The African.
The Herald
18 hours ago
- Politics
- The Herald
Zuma and MK Party to contest president's decision to suspend Mchunu in apex court
The MK Party has gone to the Constitutional Court seeking to have President Cyril Ramaphosa's decision to suspend police minister Senzo Mchunu revoked. This comes after KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi's explosive allegations that Mchunu was interfering with police investigations. In an address to the nation last Sunday, Ramaphosa announced he had suspended Mchunu, was appointing law academic Prof Firoz Cachalia as acting police minister effective from August 1 and setting up a judicial commission of inquiry to be headed by acting deputy chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga to investigate the allegations. On Tuesday he appointed minister of mineral and petroleum resources Gwede Mantashe as acting minister of police with immediate effect until Cachalia takes office. In court papers the party challenged Ramaphosa's decisions as 'irrational', 'invalid', and inconsistent with obligations in the constitution and presidential oath of office, calling for the three executive decisions to be set aside. 'Declaring that the conduct or decisions of the president to establish the judicial commission of inquiry is irrational and/or inconsistent with the obligations in section 83(b) of the constitution and/or the presidential oath of office, read with sections 84(2)(f), 177, 178(4) and/or 180 of the constitution and is invalid,' the court papers read. Former president Jacob Zuma is the first applicant and the MK Party the second applicant, while respondents cited in the application are Ramaphosa, Mchunu, Mantashe, Cachalia and Madlanga. In the urgent application the party has asked Ramaphosa to make 'constitutionally compliant decisions within 15 days'. It has given the respondents until 10am on Monday to indicate if they will oppose the application and until 5pm on Tuesday to lodge their response. The party will then file its reply by Thursday and parties should deliver heads of argument by Friday. The court action came as MK Party supporters marched to the Union Buildings and police headquarters in Pretoria on Friday to hand over memorandums calling for Mchunu to be prosecuted and Mkhwanazi protected. Similar marches were held nationally during the week and the MK Party has said it will continue with the protests. TimesLIVE
IOL News
19 hours ago
- Politics
- IOL News
Zuma and MKP challenge Ramaphosa's decisions in Constitutional Court over Mkhwanazi allegations
The uMkhonto weSizwe Party led by former president Jacob Zuma gave President Cyril Ramaphosa until Friday to resign and later launch an urgent Constitutional Court application to stop him from implementing his response to the allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. Image: Doctor Ngcobo / Independent Newspapers Jacob Zuma and his uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) have asked the Constitutional Court to halt the implementation of President Cyril Ramaphosa's response to the bombshell allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. The former president and the MKP on Friday filed an urgent application at the apex court to declare invalid and inconsistent with the Constitution Ramaphosa's decision to place Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and appoint Prof. Firoz Cachalia in an acting capacity as well as establish a commission of inquiry to be chaired by outgoing acting Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga. Zuma and the MKP also want the decisions to be declared invalid and set aside with immediate effect. They also want further and alternative appropriate, just and equitable remedies including, where necessary, interim relief maintaining the status quo ante (before) the impugned decisions, pending the judgment. 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. 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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. Next Stay Close ✕ In addition, Zuma and the MKP have asked the Concourt to refer the matter back to Ramaphosa to make constitutionally compliant decisions within 15 days of its order, where applicable. Dr. John Hlophe, MKP deputy president and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, told the country's highest court that Zuma brought the application in his personal capacity as a voter, taxpayer and citizen as well as ex-president. 'The events dealt with in this matter involve the subversion and multiple infringements of the fundamental rights of a citizen including political and socio-economic rights,' explained Hlophe. Zuma and the MKP approached the Concourt after the Presidency refused to accede to a letter of demand from their lawyers, T. Mpumlwana and Associates, for Ramaphosa to resign and withdraw last Sunday's public announcement of the commission, Mchunu's leave, Cachalia's appointment, effective from August 1, and that of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe as acting police minister until Cachalia occupies the position. The Presidency was threatened with an urgent Constitutional Court application, a motion of no confidence by the MKP working with other political parties and rolling mass action and peaceful demonstrations to force Ramaphosa to step down as president. In response, the Presidency's acting head of legal and executive services Geofrey Mphaphuli said they will not be acquiescing to the demands as the terms of reference of the commission are yet to be published in the government gazette and the appointment of Cachalia has not been finalised. 'The complaints by your clients are therefore premature, ill-informed and misplaced and any approach to the courts would similarly be so affected,' Mphaphuli stated. Hlophe's founding affidavit explained that the application concerned the urgent matter of utmost public importance and taking it to the lower courts would serve no useful purpose as the continuing depletion of taxpayers' money is also of relevance. According to Hlophe, placing Mchunu on leave of absence is irrational, tainted by bias, blatant inconsistency and other forms of favouritism as there is no provision for the president to take such a decision, which is a fancy phrase for suspension with pay. He argued that Mchunu is one of Ramaphosa's closest allies in the ANC's factional battles and has presided over the classification as top secret of the report of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate's probe into the February 2020 theft of foreign currency at the president's Phala Phala farm in Limpopo. 'The inference is therefore irresistible that were it not for their political and factional affinities, Ramaphosa would have duly dismissed Mchunu as he is perfectly entitled and legally empowered to do. "Like Caesar's wife, the political friends and allies of the president must be above suspicion,' added Hlophe. He said Cachalia's appointment was inconsistent with the Constitution, ultra vires, irrational, in breach of the rule of law and evidence of the failure by Ramaphosa to fulfil his constitutional obligations. On the establishment of the commission to also investigate judicial capture or the involvement of unnamed members of the judiciary in collusion with criminal syndicates as alleged by Mkhwanazi, Hlophe said this is another breach of the Constitution as the only state bodies or organs constitutionally and legally entrusted with the power to investigate judicial conduct are the Judicial Service Commission and the Magistrates Commission. Zuma and the MKP have asked that the matter be heard on July 28 subject to Chief Justice Mandisa Maya's direction.
The Herald
a day ago
- Politics
- The Herald
MK Party calls on Ramaphosa to resign
The MK Party has called for the immediate resignation of President Cyril Ramaphosa. Party supporters who marched to the Union Buildings and police headquarters in Pretoria on Friday to hand over memorandums also demanded that suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu be prosecuted. This comes after KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi's explosive allegations that Mchunu was interfering with police investigations.. The marchers handed over a memorandum at the South African Police Service headquarters in the capital to demand that Mkhwanazi be protected. MK Party national organiser Joe Ndlela read out the memorandum, giving the government 14 days to respond to the party's demands. 'Our demands are as follows, we demand President Cyril Ramaphosa resign immediately, the immediate arrest of those implicated by KZN police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, Senzo Mchunu to be fired immediately, the immediate unsealing of the C17 bank statements and accountability for the Phala Phala case,' he said. The memorandum was accepted by Lt-Gen Samo Chamane, on behalf of national police commissioner Fannie Masemola.
