Daily news update: Niehaus to fight expulsion from ANC; horror crash on N1; Joburg asks for load shedding reprieve

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Daily news update – 13 December

‘I will not accept it’: ‘Angry’ Niehaus vows to fight his expulsion from the ANC

Suspended uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veteran’s Association (MKMVA) spokesperson Carl Niehaus said he will fight his expulsion from the African National Congress (ANC).

This comes after the party’s national disciplinary committee (NDC) on Monday said Niehaus had been expelled from the ANC.

The ANC said this was related to comments made in June and July 2021, which brought the party “into disrepute”.

Niehaus, however, is not taking his expulsion lying down.

Ta-ta, Carl: ANC expels Niehaus for good

Suspended uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veteran’s Association (MKMVA) spokesperson Carl Niehaus has been expelled from the ANC, its national disciplinary committee (NDC) ruled on Monday.

Niehaus was charged with six counts of misconduct, for “contravening Rule 25 of the ANC Constitution”.

The ANC said this was related to comments made in June and July 2021, which brought the party “into disrepute”.

N1 near Bloemfontein closed after horror taxi, truck crash

At least 13 people were killed in a horrific crash on the N1 highway in the Free State on Monday morning.

Three others, including a child, were injured after a taxi and a truck collided head-on. The taxi driver was among those killed.

Free State Emergency Medical Services spokesperson Sipho Towa said the crash happened 25km from Winburg towards the Verkeerdevlei toll plaza near Bloemfontein.

PHOTOS: Hendrik Potgieter Road collapse imminent after recent floods

A section of Hendrik Potgieter Road in Little Falls on the West Rand is showing signs of fracture after recent weather conditions and floods.

Motorists are urged to use alternate routes.

SCP Security shared photos of the Hendrik Potgieter near Raceworx KTM showing a large crack in the tarmac.

Phalatse requests load shedding reprieve as City Power drowns in outages

City of Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalatse has asked Eskom to exempt the city from load shedding for three days.

In an urgent plea on Monday morning, Phalatse said the request was to allow City Power to “meet the nearing insurmountable challenge of escalating faults and outages”, owed to torrential downpours throughout Gauteng over the past week.

“While progress is being made with limited resources in addressing the thousands of outages that have occurred since last week’s inclement weather and flooding, continuous rainfall means more faults are being logged every hour,” Phalatse said.

Education department refutes reports of widespread exam cheating scandal

The Department of Basic Education has refuted claims that it has launched an investigation into allegations of cheating in the 2022 National Senior Certificate exams in at least six provinces.

Over the weekend it was reported that 1 189 pupils from across six provinces, including 1 127 pupils believed to be from schools in Mpumalanga alone, were involved in the exam leak.

The scandal reportedly included WhatsApp groups on which pupils could pay teachers up to R1 500 to share answers while exams were in session and during toilet breaks.

One dead, two injured in CIT heist in Pietermaritzburg

A man was shot dead while a Fidelity group security guard and a bystander were injured in a cash-in-transit heist in Pietermaritzburg, on Monday.

According to an Mi7 security guard who arrived at the scene first, there were three suspects who were stealing money from a Fidelity money truck in Church Street.

He said the man who was shot dead is one of the suspects of the CIT heist.