Author: The Bulrushes
An Appeal Committee has been appointed to make a formal judgment on whether it is necessary to vaccinate children between 12 and 17 years of age. On Friday Health Minister Dr. Joe Phaahla announced the appointment of an Appeal Committee to adjudicate on the matter between the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) and an organisation called Free-the-Children Save the Nation. Last year in October Dr. Phaahla said the government would open Covid-19 vaccinations to children aged between 12 and 17 years old. Opening vaccination of children of this age group, was in line with then SAHPRA’s approval of Pfizer…
Two fraud suspects, 37-year-old Michelle Pillay and 42-year-old Khatiya Patel appeared in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Wednesday facing charges of fraud in which Cell C lost more than R130 million. “It is alleged that between 2012 and 2019, Techno Genius Director, Adriaan Pillay (38) and his business partner Mohamed Ismail Adamjee (44), who was a Cell C executive, colluded and inflated rates for IT and network services required by Cell C which resulted in an actual loss of over R130 million,” said Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu. Further investigations revealed that Patel allegedly colluded and inflated rates for the…
The Presidency has received the second part of the report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption, and Fraud in the Public Sector at the Union Buildings. The Secretary of the Commission Professor Itumeleng Mosala presented the second part of the report which focuses on procurement shenanigans at Transnet and Denel to the Director-General in the Presidency Phindile Baleni on Tuesday Afternoon. President Cyril Ramaphosa received the first part of the report from Acting Chief Justice and Commission Chairperson Judge Raymond Zondo on 4 January 2022. The Commission has until the end of February to…
The Tiger Brands Foundation (TBF) has served a record 100 million meals to schoolchildren since launching its in-school breakfast programme about a decade ago. The programme complements the daily lunch provided by the Department of Basic Education as part of the National Schools Nutrition Programme (NSNP). The NSNP ensures that the country’s most vulnerable schoolchildren have access to a nutritious meal every day. TBF Operations Manager Karl Muller said the breakfast programme now reaches 104 schools across all nine provinces in South Africa. It provides nutrition to more than 79 593 schoolchildren a day, with a total of 83 897 beneficiaries. The…
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will find out today if he can appeal against a high court ruling that he may be extradited to the United States, where he is wanted for publication of classified military documents. Last year in December a British high court overturned an earlier ruling by a magistrates’ court not to extradite the 50-year-old Australian to America. After the high court ruling, Assange’s fiancee Stella Moris said extraditing him to the US was “dangerous and misguided”. Moris added: “For the past … two years and a half, Julian has remained in Belmarsh prison, and in fact, he…
An armed gang of 30 robbers shot dead an Eskom-contracted security officer in a brazen attempt to steal copper cables at the power utility’s Klipspruit Customer Network Centre (CNC) in Soweto. It is alleged that the suspects were attempting to steal the City Power copper cable when they shot at an approaching team of seven security officers. Eskom said the shooting occurred on 11 January just before midnight. Recounting for the first time events leading to the fatal shooting, Eskom said Tuesday: “Seven security officers drove out of the Klipspruit CNC to return to their post at Mapetla substation when the…
A day after Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) responded to criticism of having disgraced Bain & Company as a member, the local unit of US management consultants quit the lobby group so as not to “distract”. Business Day reports that Bain South Africa said in a statement that it was withdrawing its membership from BLSA so that it “should not distract from the important work” the lobby group does for the local business community. On Monday BLSA CEO Busi Mavuso addressed criticism directed at the organisation and herself over the stance taken on Bain after the Zondo Commission exposed the company’s role…
Foreign nationals are under siege in Soweto and other parts of Johannesburg, where mobs of locals are removing them from markets and going house-to-house to “clean up” townships. Kaya 959 is reporting that on Monday many residents from Diepkloof in Soweto woke up to the scenes of a mop-up operation aimed at chasing away foreign nationals who sell goods at the Bara Taxi Rank. The so-called clean-up targeting foreigners has been dubbed “Operation Dudula”. In Soweto, a man wearing military fatigues appeared to lead uniformed police officers on the clean-up. There were also videos doing the rounds on social media of…
Unvaccinated Serb tennis ace Novak Djokovic faces a three-year ban after his visa was again revoked Friday by Australian authorities. Earlier this week on Monday, a court in Melbourne upheld the Australia Open defending champion’s appeal against the cancellation of his visa. Djokovic, who has not had a Covid-19 jab, was immediately released from a detention centre after the ruling and allowed entry to the country. Although the Serb met the requirements for jab exemptions, disputed declarations of his travel sparked a new controversy after the star admitted there was an error on his application. On Friday Australia revoked Djokovic’s visa for a…
In a first for South Africa’s space industry, three locally produced nanosatellites will be launched into space later today, Thursday 13 January 2022. The first Maritime Domain Awareness Satellite constellation (MDASat-1) will be launched as part of US aerospace company SpaceX’s Transporter-3 mission. SpaceX was founded in 2002 by billionaire businessman Elon Musk. The 50-year-old engineer was born in Pretoria, South Africa. The launch is scheduled to take place from Cape Canaveral in the United States on 13 January 2022 at 17:25 South African time. This is the latest estimated time and is subject to change depending on weather conditions.…