Daily news update: Outa court loss, truck attacks and Eastern Cape mass shooting

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Daily news update: 13 July 2023

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has suffered defeat in its bid to have the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Acts declared invalid and unconstitutional.

The Constitutional Court (ConCourt) delivered its judgment on Wednesday, dismissing Outa’s application.

Outa had won its case in January last year when the Pretoria High Court ruled that both the Aarto Act and Aarto Amendment Act, which introduced a demerit system for traffic infringements, were inconsistent with the Constitution.

Read more: Outa dealt a blow as ConCourt refuses to declare Aarto Act unconstitutional

Truck attacks: Cele says police have identified 12 suspects

Police Minister Bheki Cele said police have identified at least 12 people for the torching of trucks along the country’s national roads.

The Ministry of Police and the South African Police Service (Saps) management briefed the nation on the police’s response to acts of violence targeting freight trucks in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Gauteng.

At least 20 trucks have been torched in three days on the N2, N3 and N4 highways.

Read more: Truck attacks: Cele says police have identified 12 suspects

Kholeka Gcaleka gets most nominations for public protector position

After receiving nominations and applications, the ad hoc committee searching for a new public protector will now move to the next step in finding advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s successor.

The committee met on Wednesday after receiving nominations of suitable candidates for the public protector position.

The application cycle, which opened on 12 June, closed last week Friday.

The committee’s chairperson Cyril Xaba revealed on Wednesday that 53 nominations were received, while 17 applications were submitted.

However, only 21 of the nominations met the criteria.

Read more: Kholeka Gcaleka gets most nominations for public protector position

Cope still a registered party, IEC confirms

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has confirmed that the Congress of the People (Cope) remains a registered political party with the commission, despite being de-registered with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) under the Companies Act.

IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela said in a statement that Cope remained registered with the commission as a political party in terms of Section 15 (A) (1) of the Electoral Commission Act 51 of 1996.

Section 17 of the Act states that the commission may cancel the registration of a party if it is satisfied that the party no longer functions or has no intention to participate in an election, among other reasons.

Read more: Cope still a registered party, IEC confirms

Six people killed, four wounded in KwaNobuhle mass shooting

A mass shooting in KwaNobuhle township, Eastern Cape, has left six people dead and four wounded.

The incident took place on Tuesday evening at a house on Mdledle Street. According to police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu, three unknown males entered the yard and opened fire at people who were on the property or near the house.

Read more: Six people killed, four wounded in KwaNobuhle mass shooting

R37m ‘safe house’? Paul Mashatile lives in Waterfall mansion owned by son-in-law

Deputy President Paul Mashatile has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons lately: from allegations of tenderpreneur acquaintances assisting him to maintain an opulent lifestyle, including payments to girlfriends and stays in their luxury homes, to his blue light brigade heavies assaulting three military police trainees last week.

It has now come to light that Mashatile is living in a R37-million house in an exclusive Waterfall estate in Midrand, Johannesburg. The mansion is owned by his son-in-law and one of his children. 

Read more: R37m ‘safe house’? Paul Mashatile lives in Waterfall mansion owned by son-in-law

How Boks have tried to find perfect ‘balance’ ahead of All Blacks clash

The Springboks are trying to get the balance right in their match 23 as they prepare to take on the All Blacks in their massive Rugby Championship encounter at the Mount Smart Stadium on Saturday.

Both teams got their campaigns off to thumping starts, with the Boks hammering the Wallabies in Pretoria and the All Blacks cruising to a win over Argentina in Mendoza, and the winner of this match will be in the pound seats to win the Rugby Championship.

In an effort to be better prepared for the clash, the Boks sent a group of 13 players to New Zealand early last week, so that they could get adjusted to the time zones and over jetlag, while a group of 21 followed on Sunday after their win over the Wallabies.

Read more: How Boks have tried to find perfect ‘balance’ ahead of All Blacks clash

WATCH: Swae Lee apologises for saying Amapiano is Nigerian

US rapper Swae Lee had to apologise to a hoard of South Africans who swiftly called him out for crediting the Amapiano sound to Nigeria, instead of Mzansi.

The rapper, who is one half of Hip Hop duo Rae Sremmurd, tweeted he would be experimenting with the trending South African genre, but added a Nigerian flag to the tweet which didn’t sit well with South Africans.

“Wait till y’all hear Swae Lee on Amapiano,” he wrote with a Nigerian flag emoji at the end.

Read more: WATCH: Swae Lee apologises for saying Amapiano is Nigerian