Author: The Bulrushes
Jailed former president Jacob Zuma will appear in the High Court Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday next week. Zuma, who is serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of court at Estcourt Correctional Centre, declined to appear virtually as the court had initially suggested. The 79-year-old former president is the first accused in a more than decade-old arms deal corruption case. The second accused in the French company, Thales. Zuma, who has been incarcerated for nearly a month, faces 16 charges of racketeering, fraud, corruption, and money laundering. He is accused of accepting a bribe from Thales from 1999. Allegations are that the…
President Cyril Ramaphosa will present himself to the commission of inquiry into allegations of state capture next week on Wednesday and Thursday. In a terse statement, on Monday the chairperson of the commission acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo said he had fixed 11 and 12 August as the dates for Ramaphosa to appear. The commission, which cost about R1-billion, is investigating allegations of “state capture” that involved massive corruption, and fraud in the public sector including organs of state. Some media reports suggest that South Africa lost around R1.5-trillion through organised thefts dubbed “state capture”. The president previously appeared before the…
Eskom has announced the completion of the Medupi Power Station – 14 years after the massive 4 764MW project started. The initial plan was for Medupi to be completed by 2015 at an initial cost of about R80 billion. Since then time and costs have ballooned at Medupi, which means “gentle rain” in Sepedi. It is better late than never – but estimated costs are now at R234 billion for the power station with an estimated life of 50 years. Eskom, which has been battling with power supply issues, on Monday applauded Team Medupi for “working tirelessly” to complete the…
Every time a punter buys a lottery ticket in South Africa they are relying on ICT to make sure their bet is in the draw. But what many do not know is that it is a women-led company that is handling the ICT solution. When ITHUBA was awarded the Third National Lottery Operator license in 2015, Paytronix Systems became its ICT solutions provider. Paytronix Systems is a leading black-owned and women-led ICT Solutions provider founded in 2002. The primary focus for Paytronix Systems has been to provide platform support to enable ITHUBA to run the National Lottery. The leading ICT…
More than 500 people died of Covid-19 in one day in South Africa, which has gone past the peak of the third wave driven by the more deadly Delta variant. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases said in its latest daily update that 520 people died from Covid-19.and there were 17 351 new confirmed cases. The number of total fatalities from the pandemic stands at 70 908. While numbers of new virus infections in Gauteng have significantly come down to 5 204 in the last daily count, other parts of the country are experiencing a spike. The Western Cape has…
Deputy President David Mabuza hasn’t been seen in public since he said he was “going to Russia for a few days” – now the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) wants to know where the cat is? Mabuza, who once pronounced “the cat is back” when he was cleared of wrongdoing by a court, travelled to Europe last month. Reports at the time said Mabuza left for Russia on 26 June for medical treatment after he took a leave of absence. On Wednesday morning, the DA shadow minister for the Presidency, Solly Malatsi, said his party was going to ask Parliament to…
Low-cost airline Mango Airlines, which suspended all flights earlier on Tuesday, is not refunding passengers and is instead giving them vouchers to travel with other airlines. The struggling airline – a subsidiary of South African Airways – is on its knees and has failed to pay salaries to staff for the last two months. Officials at the airline are blaming the Covid-19 lockdowns and the government’s failure to bailout the airline. Last month the government approved the release of funds to the low-cost airline. Mango was to receive R819 million. Meanwhile, unions have approached the courts to try and compel…
Tiger Brands, South Africa’s biggest food manufacturer, announced on Monday that it is immediately recalling about 20 million KOO and Hugo’s canned vegetable products over safety concerns due to potentially defective cans. Tiger Brands is recalling certain KOO and Hugo’s canned vegetable products produced from 1 May 2019 to 5 May 2021 due to an extremely small number of defective cans supplied by a packaging supplier. The cans may have a defective side seam weld that could cause the can to leak. Tiger Brands said it identified the issue as part of its internal quality assurance processes. Canned products forming part of this…
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday eased COVID-19 restrictions and moved the country to adjusted alert level three, which allows the sale of alcohol and opening of restaurants. Ramaphosa said the month-long adjusted alert level four measures had helped to reduce the spread of the virus. He said infections dropped by 20 percent. Infections in Gauteng were slowing down but in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and North West cases were on the rise. The President said onsite alcohol consumption can resume but must end at 8 pm. Off-site sales can resume between 10am and 6pm from Monday to Thursday. The curfew…
It took 40 and two years to find it – but there is no doubt Jamaican dancehall artist Cutty Ranks found his big hit “Dame Tu Cosita”. In just three years the song has amassed more than three billion views on YouTube. 0ne billion views on YouTube can earn about US$8 million (R119 million). In 2018, Cutty Ranks’ vocals were featured on El Chombo’s reggaeton song “Dame Tu Cosita”, originally released in 1997. Cutty Dame Tu Cosita is Spanish, which means “give me your little thing”. In the song, Cutty Ranks repeats the phrase over and over, and just like…