Daily news update: Zim permit fight, SA economy in 2022, Murdah Bongz gushes over DJ Zinhle

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Zimbabwe Exemption Permits: Motsoaledi will ‘rigorously defend spurious court actions’

Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi this week welcomed the High Court decision to strike the urgent applications by Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEP) holders from the roll.

This after Motsoaledi on 19 December said he would not reverse the decision to terminate ZEPs issued to asylum seekers once they’d expired.

At the time, he said there was “an abuse of our systems and, if we don’t put our foot down, we’ll keep being abused forever”.

“We’re not going to be forced to break our own laws in order to make someone else’s work easy,” he said.

SA economy: what to expect and what to hope for in 2022

What can we expect and what can we hope for when we look at the South African economy in 2022? Our economy already struggled before the pandemic and will continue to struggle as we learn to live with the new variant of Covid-19.

With an unemployment rate of 34.9%, the highest ever, as well as rising inflation and interest rates for the first time since the start of the pandemic, continuing unreliable electricity supply, little business and consumer confidence and political and policy uncertainty, the country can expect little investment.

Economists agree that South Africa’s economic outlook for 2022 is uncertain, but there are some things we can expect and things we can hope for.

WATCH: Fiery situation as black mamba found in braai in Durban

A homeowner in Durban was left astonished when he found a black mamba relaxing on his braai on Wednesday.

The unlikely encounter took both the venomous snake and the homeowner by surprise. The mamba then slid into the gas braai to flee from the man.

“Imagine he didn’t know it was in there? Gosh, he’d have gotten a much bigger fright!” joked snake rescuer Nick Evans after he was called to catch the mamba.

Murdah Bongz pens sweet birthday message to DJ Zinhle

Love continues to thrive at the Jiyane residence as DJ Zinhle’s lover and baby daddy Bongani “Murdah Bongz” Mohasana pens a sweet birthday message to the DJ, who is celebrating her 38th birthday today.

Bongani took to social media in the early hours of the morning to share a gorgeous picture from behind the scenes of a photoshoot or scene shot for the DJ’s reality television show, DJ Zinhle: The Unexpected.

In the caption of the post, Bongz starts off by telling Zinhle how much he appreciates her for the mother she has been to Kairo, the daughter she shares with hip hop rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes, as well as Asante, DJ Zinhle’s youngest daughter who she shares with the producer.

India thump the Proteas to clinch first Test in Centurion

South Africa’s blundering batsmen were no match for India’s potent bowling attack on a boobytrap-laden SuperSport Park pitch as they were bowled out for 191 in their second innings on Thursday to lose the first Test at Centurion by 113 runs.

Only Dean Elgar, with 77 in more than four hours at the crease, and Temba Bavuma, who scored 35 not out off 80 balls, were able to keep abreast of the demands of batting on the final day, as South Africa were set 305 to win, which would have been a record chase at Centurion.

Despite the best efforts of Elgar and Bavuma, India were closing in on victory at lunch as they reduced South Africa to 182/7.

Navara faster than Hilux and Ranger – 2021 Motoring Newsmaker No 2

Two-thousand-and-twenty-one was an interesting year for the South African motoring landscape.

Some things changed, like an acceleration towards greener cars, while others stayed the same like Toyota topping the monthly sales charts.

In this series of 2021 Motoring Newsmakers, The Citizen looks back at the top 20 most popular online stories of the year.