Author: Steve Kretzmann
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) on Tuesday updated Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts on its investigations into maladministration at the Road Accident Fund. The SIU has recovered R318-million from law firms so far. While most of the duplicate payments have already been recovered, the SIU discovered that some law firms had plundered their trust accounts to pay money back to the RAF. Using a trust account to pay money owed by the law firm is a criminal offence. As a result, the SIU has referred 12 of the 102 law firms to the National Prosecuting Authority for using their…
Blackhead Consulting is being probed by the Special Investigating Unit over incomplete upgrades and refurbishment to Tshwane’s Rooiwal Waste Water Treatment Plant. Rooiwal still releases about 150-million litres of untreated or partially treated sewage into the dam supplying Hammanskraal’s drinking water. The City of Tshwane on 1 February requested that National Treasury list Blackhead Consulting as a restricted supplier. Blackhead Consulting’s director Edwin Sodi is on trial for his involvement in the R255-million asbestos audit scandal in the Free State probed by the Zondo Commission. National Treasury has yet to blacklist corruption accused Edwin Sodi’s company, Blackhead Consulting, from doing…
A formerly homeless Cape Town surfer, who was orphaned in his early teens, has overcome daunting personal, economic, and logistical obstacles to come within reach of competing on the international stage. Paul Sampson, who was dogged by poverty and spent part of his early childhood in landlocked Kimberley before moving back to Cape Town, shot up the competitive surfing rankings when he won the Cape Town Surf Pro competition at Long Beach, Kommetjie, on 17 March, after coming in on a wild card ticket. The win meant Sampson, who for a while lived in caves on the Muizenberg mountain with his late…
Almost two-thirds of municipalities were failing to meet minimum drinking water standards in 2022. Currently the only recourse the national water department has is to request that a provincial authority take over the responsibility for water supply. Now a new bill before Parliament seeks to strengthen the department’s powers. Almost two-thirds of water-supplying municipalities (94 of 144) were failing to provide clean drinking water to residents in 2022. In 61 municipalities water treatment and supply was in “a critical state” according to the latest Blue Drop Report. Yet the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) cannot intervene directly to address this. Under…
By Steve Kretzmann The Business Rescue Plan for the South African Post Office estimates 6,000 workers – more than half the current workforce of 11,038 – will have to be retrenched in the first quarter of this year. The plan also envisages cutting the number of Post Office branches from 1,203 to 600. But the union says there are regulations governing postal services, and they are examining whether the plan aligns with legislation. Up to 6,000 South African Post Office workers – more than half the current workforce – stand to lose their jobs by the end of March. But the…
