Daily news update: Ramaphosa Q&A in parliament, call for arrest of ANC big guns, leaked recording exposes Tammy Taylor

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Daily news update: 4 November

‘Give Eskom board time and space to do its job,’ Ramaphosa urges

President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged his cabinet to give Eskom the necessary support it needs in order for it to provide its services effectively and efficiently.

Ramaphosa who was answering questions in Parliament from MPs on Wednesday highlighted that the power utility has had 15 to 20 CEOs since 1994 and this is why it was important to let internal processes unfold to get the best results.

Change in leadership?

The EFF’s Julius Malema wanted to know whether the president has considered a change in the leadership at Eskom.

“As much as you don’t want me to talk about processes that need to be embarked upon to assess anyone’s performance, including a CEO, that performance needs to be assessed. And that assessment must be done by a properly constituted body,” said Ramaphosa.

Police discover more bodies of suspected illegal miners in Krugersdorp

Police discovered two more bodies of alleged illegal miners at an active mine in Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg.

This now takes the total number of bodies recovered at the mine from 19 to 21.

Officers made the grim discovery on Wednesday afternoon.

High court dismisses bid for further info in R24.9m Gupta-linked Nulane Investments case

The Bloemfontein High Court has dismissed an application for the State to provide further information about the R24.9 million fraud and money laundering case against the accused in the Nulane Investments matter.

The application was brought by Gupta-owned company Islandsite Investment, represented by its co-director Ronica Ragavan as well as Gupta associate Dinesh Patel.

R130 million paid to suspended government employees sitting at home

The 305 public servants that are currently suspended have been paid salaries totalling more than R130 million while they sit at home.

This was revealed in a written reply by the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) to a parliamentary question by the Democratic Alliance (DA).

Provincial departments paid R90 million to suspended employees while national departments paid R40 million.

Call for arrest of ANC big guns

As the ANC leadership battles heat up ahead of the party’s crucial elective conference scheduled for December, there are attempts to get the organisation’s national executive committee (NEC) members arrested.

Several of the ANC NEC members, including the party’s acting secretary general, Paul Mashatile, are currently vying for top positions within the party.

However, an ANC member from KwaZulu-Natal believes that the ANC NEC members should be in prison, and “not be contesting for higher positions within the party”.

Senior citizens apprehend robbers in post office while waiting for pensions

Two armed robbers were apprehended by a group of about 200 pensioners in Durban on Wednesday.

The attempted robbery occurred at the Post Office in Lamontville at 10am, where the pensioners were waiting to receive their monthly pensions.

The senior citizens, however, chased the robbers and caught two of the suspects.

Leaked recording exposes Tammy Taylor SA’s trick to withhold ‘dumb’ people’s deposits

South Africa’s most-talked about reality television villains have been making headlines this week, and not for their catty remarks about their fellow ‘Die Real Housewives van Pretoria’ stars.

The Tammy Taylor South Africa owners, Mel and Peet Viljoen are seeing red after the investigative journalism television series Carte Blanche placed their ‘dodgy business dealings’ in the spotlight once again on Sunday, 30 October.

In an interview with a South African online publication on Wednesday, Tammy Taylor SA CEO, Peet Viljoen, said he is suing Carte Blanche’s presenter Masa Kekana for R20 million for defamation of character, as well as Patent attorney Karel Bredenkamp whom Kekana interviewed during the segment.

Bavuma after Proteas loss to Pakistan at T20 World Cup: ‘The wheels fell off’

South Africa captain Temba Bavuma conceded on Thursday that the Proteas bowlers had stuck to their usual hard lengths for longer than they should have as a resurgent Pakistan team beat them by 33 runs in their T20 World Cup match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

South Africa bowled superbly in the first half of the Pakistan innings, reducing them to 55/4 after nine overs, but brilliant half-centuries by Iftikhar Ahmad (51 off 35) and Shadab Khan (52 off 22) saw the desperate Pakistan team lash 130 runs in the last 11 overs, including 80 in the last six.

There were too many deliveries in the slot for the batsmen, which was in stark contrast to how Pakistan bowled, especially after the rain delay when South Africa needed 73 off 30 balls to win the match. Pakistan consistently either found the block hole or bowled slower balls into the pitch.