Daily news update: AG releases audit outcome, teens guilty of Themane’s murder, Sahpra approves booster shot

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115 out of 425 auditees’ clean audits a ‘slight improvement’, says AG Maluleke

Auditor-General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke says there has been an incremental improvement in national and provincial departments’ audits for the 2020-2021 financial year, with an increase in the number of clean audits.

Maluleke on Wednesday briefed the media in Tshwane on the release of audit outcomes for national and provincial departments for the 2020-2021 financial year that ended in March.

The Office of the Auditor-General audited 679 departments and public entities in the audit cycle and released the results of 425 of these audits.

There were 34 audits that were not complete, which Maluleke said required attention and decisive action from oversight and executive authorities.

Thoriso Themane murder: Four teens found guilty

Four teenagers accused of assaulting Thoriso Themane were found guilty of his murder by the Polokwane High Court in Limpopo on Wednesday.

Two other teenagers were found guilty of common assault after they submitted a plea statement admitting to slapping Themane and kicking him out of their car. They then left the scene while the group of minors continued to assault the deceased, they claimed in their plea statement, said the NPA.

Sahpra approves third dose of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for over-18s

The South African Health Products Authority (Sahpra) has approved a booster shot of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines for individuals over 18 years of age.

Sahpra initially approved the use of Pfizer’s Comirnaty® Covid-19 vaccine on 16 March 2021, in terms of section 21 of the Medicines and Related Substance Act (Act 101 of 1965).

On 17 November 2021, Sahpra then received an application from Pfizer to amend the dosing schedule for the Comirnaty® Covid-19 vaccine, allowing an optional third (booster) dose, said Sahpra in a statement on Wednesday.

Director of Gupta-linked Oakbay slapped with 10-year jail sentence for tax fraud

The Johannesburg Regional Court has sentenced the director of Gupta-owned Oakbay Trading, DP Naik, to a 10-year prison sentence for fraud and contravention of the Customs and Excise Act.

The South African Revenue Service (Sars) on Wednesday welcomed the sentence, saying Naik was convicted and sentenced after he falsified export documents and diverted cigarettes back into the South African market without paying the excise and duties for import and export. 

“Mr Naik claimed that the company had exported cigarettes to Zambia. These exports were investigated and proved to be false exports. This crime was committed to evade duties and excise payable on the cigarettes,” the revenue service said in a statement.

Omicron variant could signal ‘end of Covid-19’

A health expert in South Africa thinks there could be a “silver lining” to the emergence of the new Omicron Covid-19 variant.

Richard Friedland, chief executive officer of Netcare, said the early signs from Omicron infections suggested the variant was highly contagious, but it did not cause severe illness.

“If, in the second and third wave, we’d seen these levels of positivity to tests conducted, we would have seen very significant increases in hospital admissions, and we’re not seeing that,” said Friedland.

“I actually think there is a silver lining here and this may signal the end of Covid-19.”

Lamola admits SA Constitution provides for land expropriation without compensation

Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola has admitted that section 25 of the Constitution – as it currently stands – does provide for the expropriation of land without compensation, in circumstances where a court can determine that such expropriation by the state for nil value is just and equitable.

Lamola says the ANC’s failure on Tuesday to pass the Constitution 18th Amendment Bill in Parliament was one of the governing party’s instruments to speed up land reform by ensuring that the Constitution explicitly states that government can expropriate land without compensation.

ATM resubmits motion of no confidence in Ramaphosa

The African Transformation Movement (ATM) has resubmitted its motion of no confidence in President Cyril Ramaphosa in the National Assembly, the party confirmed on Wednesday.

This follows the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA’s) ruling last week that set aside the decision by former National Assembly speaker, Thandi Modise, to reject a request by ATM for a secret ballot on the motion.

The court found that Modise misunderstood her discretion on the secret ballot.