Daily news update: ActionSA suffers court blow, Rosemary Ndlovu guilty of murder and Winde cleared of improper conduct

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ActionSA loses as court rules in favour of IEC over ballot paper omission

ActionSA has suffered defeat after the Electoral Court dismissed its application relating to the absence of its name on the ballot paper for the local government elections.

This comes a day after the court reserved its judgment in the matter on Thursday.

Reacting to the ruling, ActionSA said it was disappointed with the outcome.

“ActionSA has received the disappointing news that the Electoral Court has found against our application. Given the urgent nature of the application, the Electoral Court will only provide written reasons at a later date.”

‘Killer cop’ Rosemary Ndlovu found guilty of murder

Former police officer Nomia Rosemary Ndlovu finally learned her fate as she was found guilty on six counts of murder and several counts of fraud.

Judge Ramarumo Monama handed down the judgment on Friday, where he, in the opening proceedings, likened Ndlovu’s case to the 1932 murder case of Daisy de Melker.

“The reason why I guess there is media attention is that in the last 89 years, this country has not observed similar situations such as your case,” Monama said.

Former ANC KZN deputy chair killed in a hail of bullets

Another ANC member has been murdered in KwaZulu-Natal in a suspected assassination.

The ANC in the province on Friday confirmed that its former deputy chairperson and member of the provincial legislature, Zibuse Mlaba, was killed in a hail of bullets on Thursday morning while opening his office in Cato Ridge, west of Durban.

The party’s spokesperson Nhlakanipho Ntombela said they were devastated by the brutal killing, which they described as an assassination.

Mkhwebane clears Winde of improper conduct over Oudtshoorn municipality

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane on Friday cleared Western Cape Premier Alan Winde of improper conduct involving allegations that he breached the Executive Ethics Code.

This centres around allegations that Winde had failed to act on serious claims made against Western Cape local government MEC, Anton Bredell, by the former mayor of the Oudtshoorn Local Municipality, Colan Sylvester.

The Good party’s member of the provincial Legislature (MPL), Brett Herron, lodged the complaint with Mkhwebane’s office in July last year against the premier and the MEC.

Prop gun fired by Alec Baldwin kills woman on movie set

US actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun that killed a cinematographer and wounded the director on a film set in New Mexico, US law enforcement officers said Thursday.

The incident happened on the set of “Rust” in the southwestern US state, where Baldwin is playing the lead in a 19th-century western.

Halyna Hutchins and Joel Souza “were shot when a prop firearm was discharged by Alec Baldwin,” the sheriff in Santa Fe said in a statement.

Outrage after SABC crew allegedly held hostage by ANC members in Mpumalanga

An all-woman SABC news crew being held hostage by ANC members in Mpumalanga on Thursday has caused shock and alarm, with the public broadcaster’s head of news strongly condemning the incident. 

According to The Watchdog on SABC News on Thursday evening, Vuyo Mvoko said the ruling party was giving the SABC “the runaround” when it came to commenting on the incident. 

SABC News reporter in Mpumalanga, Motsebi Monareng, told Mvoko the incident took place while journalists were doing a story on the lack of water in Buffelshoek, Bushbuckridge.

Suspected poacher killed by elephant in Kruger Park

On Thursday, park rangers stumbled upon the body of a suspected poacher, who had been killed by an elephant.

An intelligence operation in the Stolsnek section of the Kruger National Park (KNP) found that the suspected poacher was left behind by his alleged accomplices. 

ALSO READ: Alleged poacher dies in Kruger Park shootout

It is not yet known how many other suspected poachers were in the park at the time.