Daily news update: Cele blames potholes for hijackings, calls for Mabuyane to resign

Calls mount for Premier Oscar Mabuyane to resign after damning public protector report

There are growing calls from opposition parties for Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane to step down from office.

This was after the public protector on Friday made damning findings against him for irregularly benefiting from a R1.1 million tender that was meant for the memorial service of late struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

ALSO READ: How Mabuyane, ANC pocketed R1.1 million from Winnie Mandela’s memorial service

The Congress of the People (Cope) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) have called for Mabuyane to resign, but the premier said he had instructed his lawyers to urgently take Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s report on legal review.

Watch: Cele is ‘on tik’, Twitter says, after he blames WC hijackings on potholes

Police minister Bheki Cele lodged a passionate appeal to everyone to stop politicising crime in the country, right before blaming the increase in the number of hijackings in the DA-run Western Cape on poor road maintenance.

Cele was Speaking at police Imbizo in Mitchells Plain on Friday, addressing the community’s concerns about the constant scourge of crime.

The minister took particular offence at the province’s constant claims of being under-resourced, saying the Western Cape is the most resourced with over 200 additional members having been deployed to the province from other provinces and over R300 million spent on special operations.

He rejected claims of neglect, saying that the suggestion that government is not taking care of the province is “lies and disingenuous”, and argued that the reason for the increase in vehicle hijackings in certain hotspots in the province could be attributed to poor road surfaces instead of a lack of policing.

“Drop this thing of politicising the crime. Drop it! Drop it! Drop it!” Cele said.

“One crime that has gone up here in this province is car hijack and this car hijack happens in Nyanga, Khayelitsha – it happens because of potholes. I’m telling you.”

BEE stands for ‘Black Elite Enrichment’ and must be stopped, says FF+

The Freedom Front Plus wants to see an end to Affirmative Action (AA) and Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), since the policy has been used as a tool to advance corruption.

This was the message the party delivered on Saturday during the launch of its manifesto for the 2021 Local Government Elections in Pretoria, with the theme “Stop the decay”.

FF+ leader Pieter Groenewald made it very clear how he feels about continued BEE policies, telling the small crowd in Parkview: “We will not tolerate Black Economic Empowerment. What we want is the best product at the best price to serve the taxpayers of the municipality. They always say BEE stands for Black Economic Empowerment, I say you are wrong. It stands for Black Elite Enrichment.”

Chaos awaits One SA Movement and other independent candidates

There’s been much speculation that in next month’s local elections, independent candidates might break open the two-party logjam.

Some are putting their money where the mouth is.

The former great black hope of opposition politics, Mmusi Maimane, has staked what’s left of his political reputation on it. His One South Africa Movement (OSA) is backing 300 independent candidates in 12 municipalities.

Maimane says that these elections were about “uncapturing” local government from the “shackles of political parties”.

OSA’s stated aim is not only to eat into the support of the existing political parties, but to win over the millions of citizens who had given up on voting and act as kingmaker.

And OSA has it on the button. This election is not so much about parties winning converts as it is about overcoming the disillusionment and apathy of their former supporters.

Bafana stun Ethiopia to grab huge boost on the road to Qatar

Bafana Bafana bared their teeth in Bahir Dar on Saturday, as they shocked Ethiopia in their own backyard, Hugo Broos’ side picking up a huge three points with a 3-1 win in 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifying.

South Africa moved four points clear at the top of Group G, with Ghana taking on Zimbabwe a little later in the day. Whatever the result in that match, another win for Broos’ men against Ethiopia on Tuesday at FNB Stadium will leave them in pole position heading into the last two qualifiers next month.

Broos had targeted six points from these two matches and Bafana were helped in the first half by the brilliance of their captain and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams and a howler from his opposite number Fasil Gebremichael.

AfriForum accuses ANC of distorting history

Civil rights organisation AfriForum has released a report – conducted by think-tank Opinor – accusing the ANC of distorting history.

The report was in response to a section on historical context in the Presidential Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture’s final report.

AfriForum’s head of research Barend Uys said historic events were used in the panel’s report as motivation for the amendment of the constitution to make expropriation without compensation possible.

“It is problematic if history is distorted to achieve ideological goals and to serve a political agenda,” he said.

“It is essential to deal with the past in an honest way so that lessons can be learned from it.”

Bumpy ride holds back new Mazda BT-50 in bakkie war

It just wouldn’t be right to start a driving impression on the new Mazda BT-50 without tackling the elephant in the room first. The suspension.

Unlike a 2 000-word press release from Mazda Southern Africa introducing the latest reincarnation of its double cab that even mentions “balanced dome tweeters” and not the suspension, we simply can’t stay mum on this weighty issue. 

A mover and a shaker

To put it mildly, the suspension of the 1.9TD Active manual we had on test did not live up to our expectations of a vehicle that was recently designed from the ground up.

The rattles and shakes inside the cabin remind of an agricultural offering from a bygone era, and that is on decent tarred roads! It is so bad that two kilometers into their first trip in the BT-50 two primary school children on the rear seat were enquiring about the unusual bumpy ride.

Woolworths recalls some apple juice cartons due to toxins found

Woolworths is recalling its branded 100% Apple Juice 200ml cartons amid concerns over elevated levels of patulin.

“Following routine quality tests, Woolworths is recalling Woolworths branded 100% Apple Juice 200ml cartons.

“We are recalling single boxes and six-packs with the best before date of 23, 28 and 29 March 2022. It was identified that these products contain levels of patulin above the regulatory limits.

“Patulin is a naturally occurring mycotoxin commonly associated with apples,” Woolworths said in a statement on Saturday on Twitter.

This follows similar recalls from Appletiser and LiquiFruit over the same concerns.

ALSO READ: Here’s the list of recalled LiquiFruit products

‘There will be light at the end of this brief tunnel’: Ramaphosa on the return of load shedding

President Cyril Ramaphosa says while he is concerned about the return of load shedding, as announced by Eskom on Friday, South Africans should not lose hope because “there will be light at the end of this brief tunnel”.

Speaking to journalists on the campaign trail in Potchefstroom, North West, Ramaphosa said he was confident that utility’s management would deal with breakdowns at its power plants that have led to the latest round of blackouts being implemented.

“I wouldn’t call it a looming crisis. It is a concern and these are matters that the management of Eskom is looking at very seriously. And I believe in the management that they will handle this and make sure that the energy challenges that we are facing are brought under control.

“So, I think we will see a great deal of light at the end of this brief tunnel,” Ramaphosa said on Friday at the Tshepanang Day Care Centre.

ALSO READ: Eskom extends stage 2 load shedding until Thursday morning

Eskom on Friday announced that it had extended stage 2 load shedding until Thursday morning in order to continue replenishing its emergency generation reserves.

From presidents to paupers, Wim Trengove has defended them all

Today, he’s widely considered one of the country’s top silks but growing up, Wim Trengove wasn’t particularly enamoured with the idea of a career in law.

His father, John James Trengove, was himself a senior advocate and even served on the bench as a judge. But asked if this was where he drew his inspiration from, Trengove responds in the negative.

“I can’t really say so. Thinking back a bit, his practice was actually rather boring,” he says with a wry chuckle.

Watching him argue in court, it’s hard to imagine the indomitable Trengove doing anything else.

The last he remembers, though, he wanted to be an engineer.

Watch: McKenzie says PA will deal with ‘illegal foreigners’ on 2 November

Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie made some big promises on Saturday, during the party’s election manifesto launch in Eldorado Park, Johannesburg.

From cancelling all debts, to putting God back in schools, and getting rid of illegal foreigners, it appears the PA plans to take over several national government functions if it were to be successful in the November 1 Local Government Elections.

We agree with @GaytonMcK

Vote for Patriotic Alliance#PutSouthAficansFirst pic.twitter.com/rJbYYvtnNB

— OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF # PUT SOUTH AFRICANS FIRST (@AccountCitizens) October 9, 2021

Most controversially, McKenzie told the lime green crowd that all “illegal foreigners” would be deported the day after elections.

“Every illegal foreigner, I want you to listen to me,” McKenzie said to loud cheers.. “We are not going to deal with you on the third of November. We are dealing with you on the second of November. We are not those politicians that you bribe and you pay and you buy. Your time has come to an end here in South Africa.”

Despite this controversial stance, McKenzie has insisted that he is not xenophobic, but simply “patriotic”.

SA’s removal from UK red list a relief for tourism industry

The removal of South Africa from the United Kingdom’s red list is a relief for the over one million that depend on the tourism industry for a livelihood as the upcoming peak season approaches.

Andrew Stark, managing director of Flight Centre Travel Group, said the announcement came just in time for the inbound tourism industry, which supported the livelihoods of more than 1.5 million South Africans.

“With the peak December season fast approaching, creating and safeguarding these jobs is of paramount importance,” Stark said.

About 123 countries around the globe are already open to South African travellers.