Daily news update: Matric results, Ramaphosa vs Sisulu, Mogoeng’s appeal dismissed

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Daily news update 21 January

‘It’s not what we agreed on’ – Lindiwe Sisulu distances herself from Presidency’s statement

In yet another twist of events, the Presidency says it stands by its statement earlier on Thursday saying Tourism Minister indiwe Sisulu had apologised for her comments on the judiciary.

“The Presidency has nothing to add to the earlier statement,” said the Presidency.

This after Sisulu distanced herself from the statement, saying contents of the Presidency’s statement were “unfortunate”.

Lindiwe Sisulu retracts ‘unsubstantiated’, ‘inappropriate’ comments on judiciary

Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has apologised and retracted her comments criticising the judiciary.

According to a statement by the Presidency, President Cyril Ramaphosa met with Sisulu in Cape Town earlier this week, where he “admonished her” about her recent article titled Hi Mzansi, have we seen justice? published on 7 January 2022.

In the opinion piece published by IOL, Sisulu argued that the constitution was a “neo-liberal” document that had done little to bring about social justice for apartheid victims, and also seemed to be likening the country’s judiciary to what she called “house negroes” and said black politicians had become “black assets for colonised capital”.

Matric results: Class of 2021 records pass rate of 76.4%

Matric results: The 2021 National Senior Certificate (NSC) overall pass rate stands at 76.4% – an improvement of 0.2% from the pass rate achieved by the Class of 2020, Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga has announced.

Announcing the outcomes of the 2021 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination results on Thursday, Motshekga said this represents a record of 537, 687 candidates who passed the 2021 NSC examinations – an improvement of 21.9% passes from 2020. 

The marking process was handled by the Department of Basic Education (DBE)’s 193 marking centres and 41,000 examination markers between 8 and 22 December 2021.

Mogoeng Mogoeng’s appeal dismissed, ordered to apologise for pro-Israel remarks

Former Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng has lost his appeal before the the Judicial Conduct Appeals Committee against a complaint by Africa4Palestine, Women’s Cultural Group and the South African Boycott Divestment and Section Coalition against his remarks on Israel during a webinar last year.

Mogoeng was ordered by the Judicial Conduct Committee to retract and apologise for the pro-Israel utterances, a judgment he had challenged before the committee.

In his defence, Mogoeng said that he had an obligation, as a Christian, to love and pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Lead state capture inquiry investigator Frank Dutton dies

The lead investigator for the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Frank Dutton, has reportedly died.

According to media reports, Dutton died on Wednesday at the age of 72 due to health problems.

Sources who spoke to EWN said Dutton suffered a stroke, followed by a heart attack.

The former policeman had been working with the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) Investigating Directorate (ID) on cases involving the State Security Agency, News24 reported.

Government mulls continuing state of disaster

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) is considering whether or not the country will continue with the national state of disaster legislation currently in place.

The legislation was first declared by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma nearly two years ago as a response to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.

“We are examining how best we should handle the state of disaster in this period where the infections have tapered down, and to see the efficacy of using the state of disaster legislation or utilising other measures.

Proteas coach Mark Boucher charged over racism allegations

National head coach Mark Boucher has been formally charged over allegations of racism made against him by the Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) report, it was revealed on Thursday.

Boucher, also a former Proteas star in his playing days, was served with charges under Cricket South Africa’s disciplinary code earlier this week, the day before the ODI series against India began.

The SJN report, released in December, accused Boucher of discrimination and using racial slurs relating to former spin bowler Paul Adams’ complaint of the Proteas team using a song referring to him as “a brown shit in the ring” during their fines meetings.

Dept declares rains, flooding a national disaster

The National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) has classified the recent damaging rainy weather in parts of the country as a national disaster.

It has been reported that the heavy summer rain has thus far claimed over 80 lives, caused damage to property, infrastructure and the environment due to flooding, sinkholes and landslides.

The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs spokesperson Lungi Mtshali said the decision to classify the weather pattern as a national disaster came after consultation with all provinces on the extent of the damages.

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