Author: The Bulrushes

Former president Jacob Zuma is scheduled to go on trial for corruption on today at the High Court in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. The decades-old case was expected to finally get underway after numerous delays and postponements. Zuma, who faces several charges including fraud, corruption, racketeering, and money laundering, is jointly charged with Thales company, in the matter dating back to the 1999 arms deal. On Sunday, the Jacob Zuma Foundation said the former president had written to the president of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to reconsider his matter in which he complains that prosecutor Billy Downer SC was biased against…

The Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) is excited to announce that full and associate SAMRO members can now apply for the 2022 Music Creation Support Fund (MCSF). This year, SAMRO has put aside R2.5 million for the MCSF to offer 100 qualifying members the opportunity to apply for a supporting micro-grant of up to R25 000. The grant is to be used to create new and original music works. SAMRO’s primary role is to administer performing rights on behalf of its members, who are mainly music creators such as songwriters, composers, and publishers. This means that the MCSF is…

Eskom has announced that it will be implementing “load reduction” in high-density areas in Gauteng today between 17:00 and 22:00 to avoid “network overloading”. Affected areas include Main area Sub areas Diepsloot Diepsloot West 1, 2 & 3. Soweto Central Western Jabavu, Meadowlands Zone 6 & 7, Meadowlands East Zones 3 & 4, Meadowlands West Zones 9 &10, Mofolo Central, Mofolo North & Mofolo South. West Rand Cosmo City, Kagiso Central, Kagiso Ext 8, Sinqobile & Zandspruit. “During the load reduction implementation, customers are urged to switch off all their electrical appliances to avoid possible damage due to power surges…

An Ethiopian has been jailed for 15 years for his role in a scam to unlawfully print official home affairs permits to sell to desperate foreign nationals wanting to live in South Africa. An Ethiopian has been jailed for 15 years for his role in a scam to unlawfully print official home affairs permits to sell to desperate foreign nationals wanting to live in South Africa. Alem, who was sent to prison on Monday, will be deported after he serves his sentence. The pair – Seqola and Alem – ran into trouble when a diligent employee at Government Printing Works…

A year after ceasing operations, Greyhound Coach Lines are back up and running in time for Easter. Greyhound will start operating on Wednesday next week – a year after its closure on 14 February 2021. The bus company, which had been operating for 37 years, closed last year due to financial constraints that were exacerbated by the Covid-19 travel restrictions. However, with restrictions lifted the luxury liner has announced its service return. “We are extremely happy to be back and fully operational, as this will allow passengers the opportunity to travel safely and in luxury again,” said Leslie Matthews, spokesperson at…

The City Of Joburg on Wednesday afternoon pulled the advert for a communication specialist job with an offer of half-a-million rand a month. Earlier on, The Bulrushes reported that the City was looking for a communication specialist on a fixed-term contract of R500 000 a month. The initial report prompted an angry response from the South African Municipal Workers Union. RELATED: https://www.thebulrushes.com/2022/04/06/half-a-million-rand-a-month-coj-communications-job-raises-eyebrows/ Although the City did not go on record, a COJ official told The Bulrushes that the monthly income mentioned was an error. The official said the R500 000 was in fact an “annual salary”. The advert has since been pulled.

The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU), which is heading to the Labour Court to save the jobs of 130 City of Joburg (COJ) workers, is up in arms over the half-a-million rand salary being offered by the council for the fixed-term position of communication specialist. The appointment requirements for the cushy job include a matric certificate (NQF Level 4), plus a national diploma in communications/media studies, public relations, or any other function-related degree at NQF Level 6. Candidates for the position, which is “linked to political term of office”, must also have three to four years of relevant experience,…

To mark National Water Week under the theme “Groundwater – making the invisible, visible”, young developers from across the country were mobilised to find actionable solutions for improving the quality of water. South Africa celebrated Water Week from 21 – 27 March. Organisers of the Water Hackathon included Empire Partner Foundation (EPF) and its innovation ecosystem and the Water Institute of South Africa, The two-day Water Hackathon was organised to draw attention to the water quality issues in South African communities and find tech actionable and financially valid solutions for mitigating the problem. A competition was held during the Water…

Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs have been recalled in the UK over salmonella fears. The UK’s Food Standards Agency said the Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs were recalled on Monday due to a “potential link to a salmonella outbreak”. The Telegraph is reporting that “scores of children across Europe are suffering from food poisoning after being infected with salmonella linked to a batch of Kinder Surprise milk chocolate eggs in the run-up to Easter”. As many as 57 cases linked to the Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs have been diagnosed. Most of the cases relate to children aged five or under. Most people who get…

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe on Monday announced fuel price hikes. He said the fuel prices for February 2022 will be adjusted as follows: ❖ Petrol (both 93 ULP and LRP): 28 cents per litre increase; ❖ Petrol (both 95 ULP and LRP): 36 cents per litre increase; ❖ Diesel (0.05% sulphur): 152.56 cents per litre increase; ❖ Diesel (0.005% sulphur): 168.56 cents per litre increase; ❖ Illuminating Paraffin (wholesale): 266.00 cents per litre increase ❖ SMNRP for IP: 355.00 cents per litre increase ❖ Maximum LPGas Retail Price: 250.00 cents per litre increase. Mantashe said the new prices…

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday announced the end of the National State of Disaster – imposed 750 days ago to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. During that period, the virus left more than 100 000 dead in its wake. “What this means is that all regulations and directions made in terms of the Disaster Management Act following the declaration of the national state of disaster in response to Covid-19 are repealed with effect from midnight tonight,” said Ramaphosa. The president, however, said there would be a few transitional measures that would automatically lapse after 30 days. “We will still be required…

Microsoft has added isiZulu to its Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services Translator, enabling text and documents to be translated to and from one of South Africa’s official languages. This development announced on Thursday is across the entire Microsoft ecosystem of products and services. isiZulu joins Swahili as the latest African language to be supported, and there are plans to add more of the continent’s most widely spoken languages. Integrations across Microsoft’s ecosystem include Microsoft 365 for translating text and documents, the Microsoft Edge browser and Bing search engine for translating whole webpages, SwiftKey for translating messages, LinkedIn for translating user-submitted content,…

A Pakistan national has been arrested at the Cape Town International Airport while trying to leave the country using a fraudulently acquired SA passport. The suspect, who was arrested Thursday night, had been on the radar of the Home Affairs Counter Corruption Branch for suspected fraudulent activities in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape. “The suspect fraudulently acquired a South African ID in Gauteng and a passport in KwaZulu-Natal,” said Siya Qoza, spokesperson for the Minister of Home Affairs. The Counter Corruption Branch received a tip-off that a Pakistani with a fraudulently acquired SA passport was planning to leave the…

Former president Jacob Zuma and Thales SA will go on trial for corruption next month in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. Zuma is accused of taking bribes from French arms company Thales related to the multi billion rand arms deal in 1999. The former president, who goes on trial a day before his 80th birthday, faces charges of corruption, racketeering and money laundering. Zuma had been objecting to being prosecuted by Advocate Billy Downer SC alleging he was biased against him. Last month Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Piet Koen dismissed Zuma’s attempt to remove prosecutor Advocate Downer SC, saying the former president’s special plea…

South Africa has crossed the grim milestone of more than 100 000 deaths from COVID-19 in the latest update by the NICD. Some 44 people succumbed to the virus bringing the total of COVID-19 deaths to 100 020. There were 1 679 new cases reported. During the same period as many as 33 656 772 vaccinations had been administered. The grime milestone comes as 92,370 Pfizer vials will reach their expiration date today, Thursday, and will have to be disposed of in line with health industry standards.

City Power expects to finish reconnecting electricity supplies on Friday to parts of the Johannesburg central business district, which suffered an outage after an underground fire. “We still hope to finish the repairs and restore power to the rest of the affected customers including Selby and Westgate by Friday – if all goes according to plan,” said City Power Spokesperson Isaac Mangena on Wednesday. “In the meantime, more affected areas within the CBD were restored through backfeeding from Van Beek Substation. They include Commissioner Street, Fox Street, and Market Street.” The underground fire that took more than a day to…

A home affairs department female officer allegedly caught taking a R500 bribe from a refugee who wanted to extend his asylum permit is expected to appear in court today. The Refugee Status Determination Officer based at the Desmond Tutu Refugee Reception Centre in Marabastad, Pretoria, was nabbed on Tuesday. She allegedly took the bribe to extend the validity of the asylum permit of a Bangladeshi national, whose application for international protection was being appealed at the Refugee Appeals Authority of South Africa. The official was allegedly seen by a security guard accepting the money from the Bangladeshi national. The guard…

Amid a failure to deal with corruption amongst its employees and getting the third disclaimer on its financial statement, the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) is in financial dire straits. Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said in the Annual Report of the PRASA released Tuesday reflects improvement in performance against predetermined objectives. “However, an improvement of 11% from 18% to 29% is a far cry from where we should be and remains unacceptably low,” Mbalula told Parliament’s financial watchdog SCOPA hearings. Mbalula further painted a bleak picture of the future of PRASA. He stated that PRASA was in a…

Most parts of the Johannesburg central business district were still without electricity Tuesday Morning as firefighters continued to battle an underground fire that cut off supply lines. The fire broke out Monday morning in a tunnel. More than a day later, the Joburg Emergency Services (EMS) have not yet declared it safe for City Power technicians to attend to the fault. Apart from the city centre, other areas without electricity include Selby, Wemmer, Village Deep, Park Central, and parts of Booysens. “The fire, which started around 7h30 of Monday, is suspected to have damaged multiple cables that had been running…

As many as 49 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been voluntarily repatriated from South Africa. Home Affairs Minister Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi on Monday said he “welcomes the voluntary repatriation of 49 refugees from the DRC in collaboration with the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency”. “This is the first group of approximately 400 refugees who have expressed a desire to return to the DRC.” The department of home affairs said individual reviews were carried out by UNHCR ensuring that returns were voluntary and that the refugees return home with safety and dignity. Together with the UNHCR, the…

A Zimbabwe-based Rimbi Travel and Tours Bus Service has been fined more than R400 000 by the South African Department of Home Affairs after some of its passengers were caught attempting to enter the country without passports. The department on Monday said it had, “given Zimbabwe-based Rimbi Travel and Tours Bus Service until end of business today, 29 March 2022, to pay an administrative fine of R420 000 for breach of the Immigration Act”. The law says any conveyor (transport business) that contravenes the provisions of section 35(9), will be liable for a fine of R15 000 for each person…

Sandton-based tech non-profit organisation Empire Partner Foundation (EPF) has joined forces with EPF Tech Fund to launch an R80 million tech investment purse to support startups across the country. The fund, backed by NMVE Capital, TDM Ventures, and Digication as its first investors, will invest in students and graduates, who are developing tech solutions that create a meaningful impact. The fund said, in its first phase, it invested in 20 data start-up firms in the last 18 months with a combined value of R150 million. Now the latest phase will benefit some 15 start-ups that have been through EPF Incubation…

Most parts of the Johannesburg central business district are without electricity after a fire on Monday morning in tunnels under Ntemi Pilusa Street tripped two main lines. City Power said it was attending to an outage from a Fordsburg substation affecting most of the Joburg CBD and Selby. “The outage happened around 8 am after a fire in our underground tunnels at Ntemi Pilusa street tripped two main lines,” said City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena. “One line feeding Central Substation which affects the entire CBD, and the other line feeding Selby Substation affecting most of the industrial areas east of…

African entrepreneurs are being invited to enter Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) competition to stand a chance of winning a share of $1.5 million or R21.9 million grants on offer. The ABH prize competition, one of the Jack Ma Foundation’s flagship philanthropic programs spotlighting and celebrating Africa’s entrepreneurial talent, has opened applications for its fourth annual edition https://bit.ly/3Ngq1rT. Entrepreneurs from all 54 African countries, across every sector, age group, and gender are now able to submit their applications, in either French or English, for a chance to become one of the Top 10 finalists. The official slogan of the competition, “It’s African…

Fresh from a court victory overturning a prohibition to march, Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia marched in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, on Saturday and demanded the resignation of Home Affairs Minister Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi. Organisers of the anti-xenophobia march accused Dr. Motsoaledi and Gauteng Premier David Makhura of working alongside Operation Dudula to trample the rights of asylum seekers and other undocumented migrants. The initial Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia march had been planned for Human Rights Day but was stopped after Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department raised concerns that Operation Dudula was planning to march on the same day. Operation Dudula has publicly stated its intentions to…