Daily news update: Why Yengeni was barred from Veterans’ League position, Shivambu on his relationship with Malema, load shedding

In today’s daily news update: Snuki Zikalala was elected unopposed as the president of the ANC Veterans’ League after Tony Yengeni was prevented from contesting for the position.

Meanwhile, EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu has dismissed claims that there are divisions brewing between him and Julius Malema.

Daily news update: 31 July 2023

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

Why Yengeni wasn’t eligible for ANC Veterans’ League top job

Snuki Zikalala was on Saturday elected as the president of the ANC Veterans’ League.

Zikalala was elected unopposed after former ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni was prevented from contesting for the position.

The reason Yengeni was given for this was that he is not registered as a branch member of the veterans’ league in his region.

Although Yengeni was seen as a strong contender for the position of president, City Press reports that some within the veterans’ league thought he wouldn’t be suitable for the role.

Read more here.

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WATCH: Shivambu dismisses claims of divisions brewing with Malema

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) deputy president Floyd Shivambu has dismissed claims that there are divisions brewing between him and party leader Julius Malema saying they are “blood brothers”.

This comes after Malema fired a warning shot to any of his detractors including Shivambu at the red berets 10^th anniversary gala dinner on Thursday.

Shivambu said people are taking Malema’s comments about him out of context.

“There will never be a time that the EFF will be divided because of my differences with the commander-in-chief. We started working politically every day for the past 15 years. So, we’ll be together forever and we represent a generational mission which will never be destructed by anything.”

Read more here.

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‘Load shedding an unwelcome occurrence, all of us suffering’ – Ramokgopa

Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said load shedding is an “unwelcome occurrence” that has severely impacted South Africans lives.

Ramokgopa was briefing the media on the Energy Action Plan (EAP) on a cold Sunday morning.

Ramokgopa said there have been some improvements in generation capacity to mitigate load shedding.

“As we said before, load shedding is an unwelcome occurrence, but the more we are able to illustrate that there’s gradual improvements in terms of the number of hours that your lights are on and off and we use this to measure the stages of load shedding.”

Read more here.

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Proteas medal hopes dented by Jamaica at Netball World Cup

While they remained in the hunt for the first half of the game, the wheels came off for the Proteas in the second half, as they were handed a crushing 67-49 defeat by Jamaica in their last match of the opening round at the Netball World Cup in Cape Town.

The home side had already qualified for the second round by beating Wales and Sri Lanka in Pool C clashes earlier in the week, booking their place in the Super 12 stage of the tournament.

With all sides carrying their results into the next round, however, the SA team lost crucial points against a Jamaican side who are just one place higher than the Proteas in the world rankings.

Read more here.

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Police launch manhunt after NFP councillor gunned down in KZN

The South African Police Service (Saps) political killings task team has launched a manhunt for suspects involved in the killing of a National Freedom Party (NFP) councillor in KwaZulu-Natal.

Ntombenhle Mchunu was shot and killed by unknown suspects at her house in Nongoma early on Sunday morning.

According to the statement released by NFP party leader Canaan Mdletshe, Mchunu was sleeping at her home when unknown gunmen broke into her house and fired several shots, killing her instantly, before fleeing.

Read more here.

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Suicide blast kills at least 39 at Pakistan political gathering

At least 39 people were killed and dozens more wounded on Sunday in a suicide bombing at a political gathering of a leading Islamic party in northwest Pakistan, officials said.

The blast targeted the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F (JUI-F) party, a government coalition partner led by an influential firebrand cleric.

More than 400 party members and supporters had gathered under a canopy when the attack took place in the town of Khar, near the border with Afghanistan.

Read more here.