Daily news update: Mbalula defends Mashatile, Meyiwa trial, cholera update

In today’s daily news update: Fikile Mbalula has defended Deputy President Paul Mashatile in the blue light controversy, and a second witness took the stand in the Senzo Meyiwa trial.

Meanwhile, Dr Joe Phaahla confirmed anothercase of cholera, this time from Pakistan, and the EFF addressed the uproar surrounding the anti-gay academic Patrick Lumumba.

Daily news update: 26 July 2023

Weather-wise, residents along the coast should prepare for maritime mayhem… The weather service issued a turbulent forecast for today.

Stay up to date with The Citizen – More News, Your Way. Here’s your easy-to-read selection of our top stories.

Mbalula defends Mashatile

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has defended Deputy President Paul Mashatile after allegations that he might have lied about not seeing his security detail assaulting three military trainees who appeared to have been dragged out of a Polo Vivo while travelling on the N1 highway in Johannesburg.

Eight men who used to be the deputy president’s security personnel made their first appearance in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court yesterday, charged with several counts of assault, malicious damage to property and pointing of a firearm.

One of the accused yesterday told the court that the deputy president had left the scene during the incident.

READ: Blue light case: Mashatile ‘didn’t lie’ – Mbalula defends deputy president

‘He was lying face up’- Meyiwa trial

A second state witness has taken the stand in the trial of the five men accused of killing Orlando Pirates and Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa.

Khaya Ngcatshe, a neighbour of the Khumalos, gave evidence on Tuesday before the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on what he saw on the evening the soccer star was killed in 2014.

Meyiwa was fatally shot on 26 October during an alleged botched robbery at the family home of his then-lover, Kelly Khumalo, in Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg.

READ: ‘He was lying face up’- Second state witness testifies in Meyiwa murder trial

Cholera update

Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla has confirmed another imported laboratory-confirmed case of cholera on Tuesday.

The latest case is a 24-year-old South African man with travel history from Karachi in Pakistan.

According to Phaahla, the patient arrived in the country on 16 July from Pakistan, which is known to be cholera endemic, where he experienced abdominal cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea symptoms after a meal on 14 July.

READ: SA records another imported case of cholera

Sub-marinating ‘steak out’? [WATCH]

A Hout Bay resident’s surprising footage of a submarine making its way along the picturesque coastline on Sunday turned into a hot topic of discussion as no news of any drills being conducted by the SA Navy have been reported lately.

What was going on, and why was she lying close to the rocky shore, in shallow water, blowing hard, but going nowhere?

A code red alert was immediately raised on social media pages with keyboard warriors weighing in with theories ranging from “The Russians are coming” to “Aaah, its the Chinese, because a flotilla of them is in Cape Town”.

WATCH: Sub-marinating: SA Navy submarine in Hout Bay ‘steak out’? [WATCH]

EFF-Lumumba uproar

The EFF slammed the “hypocrisy” of South Africans who have taken to social media, criticising the party for associating itself with anti-gay academic Patrick Lumumba.

Lumumba addressed the EFF 10th anniversary lecture at the University of Cape Town on Monday, but not without opposition.

A coalition of LGBTIQA+ organisations and UCT staff and students protest against homophobia outside the Sarah Baartman Hall, where Lumumba was giving the address.

READ: ‘We don’t regret inviting him’ – EFF slams SA’s ‘hypocrisy’ amid Lumumba uproar

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In other news today:

• Four killed, others injured during shooting at taxi rank in Port Shepstone
• ‘No one among us killed Senzo’: Zandile Khumalo sticks to her story in Meyiwa murder trial
• Sassa grant: How much, when and where to collect in August
• Police follow trail of blood to arrest man accused of murder
• Brookside Mall unrest accused back in the dock

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Yesterday’s Daily News recap

READ: Zandile Gumede, Lauren Dickason, Koeberg drama, and more