Daily news update: Spotlight on Zuma’s tax records, soldiers implicated in border smuggling, and Cape Town’s new mayor

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Sars weighing its options after court loss over Zuma tax records

South African Revenue Service (Sars) Commissioner Edward Kieswetter is unhappy about the Gauteng High Court’s decision to order the release of former president Jacob Zuma’s tax records to two media houses.

The court granted investigative journalist team amaBhungane and Financial Mail’s application to access Zuma’s tax records on Tuesday.

The tax collector said it noted the judgment and while Kieswetter did not mention Zuma by name, he said taxpayer confidentially was not limited to a particular individual but was global tax practice.

City of Cape Town gets new mayor as DA’s Geordin Hill-Lewis sworn in

The City of Cape Town has a new executive mayor after the Democratic Alliance’s (DA’s) Geordin Hill-Lewis was officially sworn in on Thursday.

Hill-Lewis’ inauguration, which took place during a council meeting, comes after the DA won the most votes in the city following the 2021 local government elections.

The victory meant that the party, which scored an election victory in Cape Town for the fourth time since 2006, has 153 seats in the metropolitan municipality.

ALSO READ: City of Cape Town to write off debts worth R4bn owed by qualifying residents

After 224 councillors voted for him, Hill-Lewis said he was honoured to be Cape Town’s new mayor.

SANDF says probe into soldiers implicated in border smuggling ‘almost done’

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) says the investigation into its members being involved in border smuggling is “almost at the finish line”.

This after Carte Blanche implicated soldiers in corruption and bribery at the South African/Zimbabwean border on Sunday.

The SANDF has since “strongly condemned” the criminal activities and said no act of ill-discipline would go unpunished.

Lamola confirms deadline for state capture report

Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola has confirmed 1 January 2022 as the submission day for the report of the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture chaired by acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

“On 1 January 2022, the final report will be with President Cyril Ramaphosa,” Lamola confirmed in an interview with Newzroom Afrika on Thursday evening.

According to Lamola, only Zondo knows the progress of the report so far.

Gauteng hospitals’ dirty laundry delays over 300 surgeries

The DA believes private laundromats can alleviate Gauteng hospitals’ critical linen shortage.

Gauteng health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi told the province’s legislature on Wednesday that linen shortages had disrupted surgeries at nine public hospitals and resulted in the cancellation of approximately 325 operations.

Mamelodi Hospital was the worst affected, with some 200 operations being cancelled due to linen shortages that persisted for two weeks.

R50 million ransom paid for return of kidnapped Moti brothers – report

According to a report, the Moti family paid R50 million in cash for the safe return of their four kidnapped sons.

News24 is reporting this claim after allegedly speaking to three sources with knowledge of the investigation. According to the report, the Moti brothers – Zia, 15, Zayyad, 11, Alaan, 13, and Zidan, 7 – were returned soon after the money was handed over.

A police source told the publication that a dead drop was used to hand over the money. A dead drop is when an item, in this instance the bag of cash, is left at a specified spot and later collected by the kidnappers.

Keshia Patchiappen, the spokesperson for the Moti family, however, denies that a ransom was paid.

WATCH: Malema’s suggested replacement for ‘Die Stem’ is not ‘baie mooi’

Before starting coalition negotiations, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) released a list of demands. One of those demands was removing Die Stem from the national anthem.

EFF leader Julius Malema has now clarified the party’s stance on the national anthem.

He wants the Afrikaans part of the national anthem rewritten, rather than removed.

“The ANC can’t even commit to removing Die Stem. We are not saying remove Afrikaans. We are saying remove Die Stem,” said Malema during a press conference this week.

“We don’t have a problem with Afrikaans, we have a problem with Die Stem,” he added.

Ghana FA issue bizarre, scathing riposte to Safa complaints

The Ghanaian Football Association (GFA) have hit back at the South African Football Association, after Safa issued a complaint to Fifa over the conduct of the match officials in their Fifa World Cup qualifier at the Cape Coast Stadium on Sunday.

ALSO READ: Bafana’s De Reuck – We were robbed

Safa have lodged the complaint with the world footballing body, which is set to be heard on November 23, in the belief that they have strong evidence of a pattern of bias from the match officials in the Group G match, which Ghana won 1-0, to progress to the final qualifying round at Bafana’s expense.