Author: Ground Up

By Matthew Hirsch Terry Pheto’s house in Bryanston, seized by the Asset Forfeiture Unit, went on auction on Thursday morning. But the property worth more than R4-million failed to sell. No bid over the starting bid of R3-million was received. The Lottery money used to buy the house was meant to go to an initiation programme. The auctioneer will market the property to prospective buyers in the coming weeks. A luxury home paid for with ill-gotten Lottery money by Tsotsi and The Bold and the Beautiful actress Terry Pheto went unsold when it went under the hammer on Thursday 2 March,…

By Daniel Steyn “The work we do isn’t science until it’s shared with someone who isn’t a scientist,” says Amish Patel, a Signal Processing Engineer with the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory. He is involved in the MeerKAT radio telescope. Patel was speaking on Friday at the second in a series of Science for the People seminars hosted by GroundUp and Bertha House in Cape Town. His talk was titled Astronomy in South Africa and Why it Matters. The MeerKAT radio telescope project in the Karoo derived from the aspiration to have a South African Square-Kilometer Array (SKA) precursor telescope. It has been operational…

By Thamsanqa Mbovane About 100 people from a number of civil society groups marched from KwaLanga to Kariega Town Hall, carrying empty pots, blowing whistles and singing protest songs as Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana delivered his 2023 national budget speech on Wednesday afternoon. The marchers were demanding that the R350 Social Relief of Distress grant be made a permanent Basic Income Grant of R1,500 for all unemployed people. In his budget speech Godongwana told the nation that the R350 SRD grant will be extended until March 2024. “R350 is an insult. It is even less than the lunch of a…

By Masego Mafata The four-day hearing by the Judicial Conduct Tribunal on complaints by activist group #UniteBehind against Judge Tintswalo Annah Nana Makhubele started today. A judge in the Gauteng Division of the High Court, Makhubele is accused of gross misconduct by #UniteBehind. Makhubele is the former chairperson of the interim board of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA). The three-person Tribunal has faced many delays since it was first recommended by the Judicial Conduct Committee in 2020. The Judicial Conduct Tribunal hearing on Judge Tintswalo Annah Nana Makhubele started on Tuesday in Rosebank, Johannesburg, almost three years after…

By Neil Thomas Stacey Eskom’s financial reports from December 2022, read by candlelight as they may have been, paint a picture that may surprise. The embattled utility has been able to bring its debt burden down to about R400-billion, from a peak well over R500-billion in 2020. It has trimmed its other liabilities enough to bring its losses down to R12.3-billion which means that, were it not for debt servicing costs of R70-billion, Eskom would be a profitable venture. That financial picture, on its own, would suggest that it wouldn’t take much outside intervention to restore Eskom to a profitable entity,…

By Chris Gilili Ahead of the upcoming State of the Nation Address (SONA), over 400 people, including members of civil society organisations, unemployed citizens and recipients of the Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD), marched to the head offices of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Thursday.Government introduced the SRD grant in May 2020 during the Covid pandemic. Since then the grant has been repeatedly extended and is now due to expire next month. The marchers want President Cyril Ramaphosa to clearly lay out the state’s plans for a basic income grant at…

By James Stent Martha Ngoye, PRASA whistleblower, has been found not guilty on charges brought against her by the rail agency in an arbitration inquiry. Ngoye was found not to have been among those who recommended the Swifambo “tall trains” contract. Ngoye was also found not responsible for PRASA’s losses in the SA Fence and Gate matter, for which she is being sued by PRASA for R45-million. PRASA’s witnesses crumbled under cross-examination. Ngoye’s current position at the rail agency is unclear; PRASA’s appeal against a judgement that overturned her firing is to be heard in March. Martha Ngoye, the corruption-busting legal…

By Nurina Ally The records on the Constitutional Court website are a crucial resource for lawyers, academics, journalists and the public. But in recent years record-keeping has been neglected and key documents are sometimes missing. Reliable, up-to-date information on the Constitutional Court’s website is all-important to ensuring transparency, participation, and accountability in the Court’s work. When first established, the Court appeared to be leading the way in effective online record-keeping. Justice Dikgang Moseneke was so in awe of the Court’s website when he first joined the Court, he described it as a “marvel”. But the zeal for innovation has seemed to wane. Worse, there are…

A Gauteng attorney has been found liable to pay clients R1.4 million, the proceeds of the sale of a property they owned, which was stolen through a “business email compromise”. Attorney Gavin Hartog believed he was transferring the money into his client’s account, but he was unwittingly paying it into the Standard Bank account of a fraudster who had intercepted his email correspondence. The fraudster withdrew the money almost immediately and it has never been recovered. Hartog’s clients – Brigitte Daly, her husband Patrick Daly and her sister Karin Foulkes-Jones (now deceased) – first secured an order against him in…

By James Stent Commuter activist group #UniteBehind has urged President Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula to dissolve the board of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), appoint a new board and move passenger rail to the metros and provinces. But recent comments from another minister suggest that the party will resist attempts to shift control of commuter rail. In a 24 January letter of demand addressed to the President and Minister of Transport, #UniteBehind demands that the Minister of Transport dissolve the current PRASA board and appoint a competent new board; PRASA be placed under judicial…

By Raymond Joseph A luxurious mountainside mansion with sweeping views of Simon’s Town and False Bay, owned by a trust controlled by dodgy Pretoria lawyer Lesley Ramulifho, was described as “five-star” when it was put up for auction a few years ago. In rural Rustenburg, in North West, a magnificent boutique hotel on a property owned by a company belonging to former National Lotteries Commission (NLC) board member William Huma, lies in the picturesque foothills of the Kgaswane Nature Reserve Mountains. And in Midrand, Gauteng, a luxury guest house with conference facilities set in a large garden with “a country feel” is owned by…

By Tania Broughton Judith Hawarden received an email from what she thought was Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs (ENS) with the details of the account into which she paid the balance of money owed on a property sale. But the email was forged and the money stolen. Hawarden sued ENS for the money. In finding for Hawarden, the Gauteng High Court criticised ENS for relying on email, which is insecure, for invoicing her. The case likely has profound consequences for how companies invoice clients. ENS also had to pay punitive costs for the way it handled the case. One of South Africa’s leading…

By Marecia Damons On Friday, Postbank acknowledged that a glitch had prevented many social grant recipients from accessing their January 2023 payments. Postbank said the issue had been resolved. But GroundUp visited a Cape Town payment branch on Tuesday and found several beneficiaries had still not been paid. This is the second time in about a month that a major “system glitch” at Postbank has left grant beneficiaries with empty pockets. A Cape Town mother spent hours queuing outside the Post Office in Athlone this week, desperate to collect her child’s unpaid social grant. “November was the last time I received…

By Daniel Steyn The President’s Fund was established to pay reparations to victims of human rights abuses under apartheid. Over the past five years, the Fund has received R531-million in investment revenue but only disbursed R97.7-million in reparations. Progress on housing provision, as recommended by the TRC, has been slow. For almost two months, about 150 victims of apartheid have been sleeping outside the Constitutional Court as part of the Khulumani Galela Campaign. They say they qualify for apartheid reparations from the President’s Fund but they have not received them. The President’s Fund, established by the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act…

By Vincent Lali About 80 Shoprite truck drivers protested outside its distribution centre in Brackenfell, Cape Town on Thursday. The workers, affiliated to the Shosholoza Workers Union of South Africa (SHOWUSA), are demanding the company give all drivers a fixed basic salary and transport allowance. Shop steward Siyabulela Njuku told GroundUp that drivers are paid per hour and have to work 195-hours per month to get a basic salary. He said drivers are forced to work overtime to compensate for hours lost while they were on leave or sick. “We want a secured basic income that we must get monthly,” he…

By Liezl Human Commuter activist organisation #UniteBehind says Parliament has ignored its complaints against six MPs, including transport minister Fikile Mbalula, implicated in state capture and corruption at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA). The organisation first laid a formal complaint in August 2022 to Parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests, referring to article 10 of Parliament’s Code of Conduct. This lays out the process of investigating a complaint. #UniteBehind wants the Joint Committee to summon the six MPs to account for their involvement in PRASA’s “slide into almost total ruin”. The organisation wants the committee to take disciplinary action…

By Raymond Joseph GroundUp has learnt that Jodi Scholtz will take over as Commissioner of the National Lotteries Commission early next year. Her current title is chief operating officer of the Department of Trade, Industry and Commerce. She has been lead administrator since February 2020 of the South African Bureau of Standards after it was placed under administration. Chief operating officer Jodi Scholtz of the Department of Trade, Industry and Commerce (DTIC) will take over as Commissioner of the National Lotteries Commission early next year. Her appointment is yet to be officially announced, but GroundUp has confirmed it with three different sources with…

Many residents and fishers of Saldanha Bay voiced their support for the Karpowership deal, saying it will ease the burden of load shedding and create jobs. Karpowership’s first application was refused by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) due to “gaps” in their environmental assessment and lack of proper public participation. Environmental NGO Green Connection, who oppose the deal, complained that Karpowership did not directly reach out to fishers. Karpowership told GroundUp it would supply hundreds of jobs and add 1,220MW of power to the country’s grid. At a public meeting held in Saldanha Bay as part…

By James Stent A PRASA investigation has uncovered a multi-million rand scam involving bogus insurance claims. The scam was uncovered because of the honesty of one of PRASA’s lowest-paid people. Zethembiso Dladla came forward after an additional R67,000 was deposited into her account. The payment was supposedly for an insurance claim in which Dladla was injured while using a train. But as she told PRASA, she hadn’t used the train, wasn’t injured and had never put in a claim. In its most recent annual report, for 2021/2022, the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) reported a “flood of fictitious personal…

By Raymond Joseph The Special Investigating Unit raided the office of the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) in East London on Wednesday morning. Documents and computers were seized in relation to an investigation into a corrupt scheme run by former board member Muthuhadini Madzivhandila, who died earlier this year. The scheme allegedly worked by getting newly set up non-profit companies to obtain NLC funding, which was then channelled to a family member. Documents and computers were seized by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) during a raid on the East London offices of the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) as part of an investigation…

By Anton van Zyl and Maanda Bele “Do you think it will last until December?” This is Edward’s* main concern. Two months ago he invested R500 in a new get-rich-quick scheme, Gollong Investment. It was all the money he had, but he was desperate to try something to make some extra cash. After just 40 days, Edward, from Thohoyandou in Limpopo, received a notification that his balance with Gollong was now R800, showing a welcome R300 profit. The investment generated a 60% return, not bad going for just over a month.  Edward was so impressed with how his “investment” had performed, that instead…

By Ezekiel Kekana PRASA says 396 Shosholoza Meyl train carriages nationally will be scrapped and sold. 155 carriages have been parked for years in Pretoria’s Bosman Street station and are “obsolete.” A “retirement” strategy has been approved to dispose of all the obsolete assets of PRASA. Only two Shosholoza Meyl routes are currently operating. The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) says 396 Shosholoza Meyl carriages, most of its fleet, are “obsolete” and will soon be scrapped or sold. At Pretoria’s Bosman Street station alone, there are 155 carriages rusting on the sidings, some for over a decade according to…

By Tania Broughton The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has dismissed with costs a bid by Siyangena Technologies Pty Ltd to overturn a finding by the Pretoria High Court that it was complicit in corruption when it scored contracts valued at about R5.5 billion from the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) The SCA on Tuesday ruled that the company was not an “innocent party”, as it claimed, and that It would be “inconsistent with the notions of justice and equity” if it were allowed to profit from the unlawful procurement contracts. Read the judgment The court also affirmed that the high…

By Liezl Human The R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant is being extended for an additional year until March 2024, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced on Wednesday. Presenting his medium term budget policy statement to Parliament, Godongwana said: “The SRD grant was introduced in May 2020 as a temporary measure to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable who were affected by lockdown measures. It has been extended several times since then. Discussions on the future of the grant are on-going and involve very difficult trade-offs and financing decisions.” But millions of people who used to get the grant…

By Chris Gilili Over 150 members of civil society groups and unemployed people picketed outside the National Treasury in Pretoria on Tuesday. They are calling for the R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant to be extended and converted to a basic income grant. The group demanded a wealth tax to fund the grant as well as an increase in taxes on products like cigarettes, vaping, sugary drinks, alcohol and carbon. Over 150 members of civil society groups and unemployed people picketed at Church Square in Pretoria on Tuesday. They are calling for the National Treasury to continue paying the R350…