Daily news update: ConCourt dismisses IEC application, ANC NEC meetings and Another court blow for Mkhwebane

Click on the links below for the full story or visit our home page for the latest news.

Elections must go ahead as planned, ConCourt rules

The Constitutional Court has dismissed the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) application to postpone the local government elections scheduled for October.

This after the IEC in July adopted the final report of former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke’s inquiry into the feasibility of holding this year’s local government elections.

The commission had approached the courts to seek judicial authorisation to conduct the polls outside of the constitutionally prescribed time periods.

“The commission accepts the rationale and the central thesis of the report that greater immunity through mass vaccination is a desirable precondition for a safe, free and fair election to be realised,” said the chairperson of the IEC, Glen Mashinini, at the time.

Ramaphosa has plans to deal with employment crisis, R11 billion allocated

President Cyril Ramaphosa said in parliament on Friday that employment stays ‘top of mind’ and promised that ‘a number of proposals are coming’. Several programmes will also be implemented in the next few weeks.

He was responding to a question by MP Itiseng Kenneth Morolong from the ANC about how government is mobilising funds for economic recovery and the elements of the economic reconstruction plan that will transform the structure of the economy.

Mabuza’s choice to get treated in Russia is none of your business, Ramaphosa says

Deputy President David Mabuza is entitled to seek medical assistance in any country of his choosing.

That is according to President Cyril Ramaphosa, who defended Mabuza’s recent medical trip to Russia.

“Where he gets his treatment, in the end, honorable Steenhuisen, it’s a personal choice. Just as anyone would choose which doctor should treat them, which dentist should treat them, they’re entitled because it affects them personally.

“And they need to feel that they can get whatever treatment best from whatever medical practitioner,” Ramaphosa said.

ANC NEC’s weekend headache: Elections, cashflow problems on the agenda

The ANC’s highest decision-making body in between conferences, the national executive committee (NEC), is expected to hold a series of virtual meetings this weekend, to discuss a myriad of challenges facing the governing party and country.

ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe said the NEC would hold a special meeting on Friday afternoon, followed by an NEC Lekgotla from Saturday until Monday.

ALSO READ: Will ANC’s risky bet on postponement of local elections pay off?

At the top of its agenda for Friday will be the upcoming local government elections and the party’s financial woes that have seen it unable to pay staff salaries for two months.

Another Public Protector report in the bin: Court victory for horse racing industry

A Public Protector report ordering wide-ranging changes to the horse racing industry has been set aside by the North Gauteng High Court.

The court also ordered Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane to pay the costs of the court action.

The report followed a complaint about the legitimacy of corporatisation of the thoroughbred horse racing industry in 1997.

Titled “Allegations of Maladministration and Improper conduct in connection with a Memorandum of Understanding entered into between the Gauteng Provincial Government and the Gauteng Horseracing industry in 1997 which subsequently led to the Corporatisation of the Horseracing Industry”, the Public Protector’s report got widespread media coverage when released in 2019.