Category: News

The police’s Anti-Gang Unit have arrested two people in two separate incidents of murder, attempted murder and possession of drugs in Nigel and Naturena in Gauteng.

In the early hours of Wednesday, members of the Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) acted on intelligence regarding a wanted suspect linked to a murder and attempted murder case in Nigel.

Upon arriving at an identified place in Nigel, a 25-year-old man was found and identified as the wanted suspect.

In a separate incident on the evening of Tuesday, members received information regarding another wanted suspect connected to a murder case reported at SAPS Langlaagte.

“Initial leads directed the team to Westbury, however, the suspect was not located at that address and the team was further led to a residence in Naturena,” the police said in a statement.

While there, they encountered a 26-year-old female who identified herself as the wanted suspect’s girlfriend.

During their inquiry about the suspect’s whereabouts, the members were informed that he had been arrested the previous day on unrelated charges.

Upon requesting permission to search her, the female voluntarily disclosed that her bag contained illegal substances.

A subsequent search revealed over 300 mandrax tablets, ziplock bags containing crystal meth, with an estimated street value of R15 050 and cash. The female suspect was arrested for possession of drugs.

Police rescued a 55-year-old Pakistani businessman and arrested four kidnappers in different locations in Gauteng on Thursday, following an intelligence-led operation.

“According to a preliminary report, the victim was kidnapped in Graaff-Reinet, in the Eastern Cape, earlier last month, by an unknown group of individuals who introduced themselves to the victim as immigration officials,” the South African Police Service 9SAPS) said in a statement.

“The victim allegedly accompanied these individuals to the nearest police station, but never returned home,” the police said.

The victim’s family reported the kidnapping to the police after the kidnappers had allegedly demanded a ransom for the release of the victim.

A multi-disciplinary team comprising members from National Crime Intelligence, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation in the Eastern Cape (DPCI – HAWKS), DPCI Tactical Operations Management Section (TOMS), Soweto Flying Squad and private security arrested two South Africans and two Pakistani nationals.

One kidnapper was arrested in Killarney and an unlicensed firearm was seized during the arrest.

The team also seized a vehicle during the operation.

The suspect led the team to the location of the victim in Evaton where two more kidnappers were arrested.

Further investigation resulted in the arrest of a fourth kidnapper in Benoni. A vehicle which is believed to have been used in the commission of the crime was also seized.

The four suspects are expected to appear before a magistrate’s court soon, while further investigations continue.

Over 24 000 job opportunities are expected to help tackle the unemployment challenge in the North West province.

This was revealed during a roundtable discussion involving North West Premier Lazarus Kagiso Mokgosi, Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Judith Nemadzinga-Tshabalala, as well as representatives from organised labour, business, and civil society.

The initiative, which involves collaborative work between the North West Provincial Government and the Department of Employment and Labour, will be implemented through a Labour Activation Plan (LAP).

The LAP initiative, funded by the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), aims to enhance employability, enable entrepreneurship, and preserve jobs through skills training, enterprise development, and other intervention measures.

“This initiative has been in the pipeline for some time, and I am happy that it is coming to fruition. This is one of the policy announcements I made during the State of the Province Address [SOPA] to help find solutions to high levels of unemployment in the province,” Mokgosi said on Thursday.

In the SOPA delivered last month, the Premier reaffirmed the government’s commitment to creating job opportunities through public employment programs, such as expanded public works, community health workers, community works, and labour activation programmes.

These initiatives aim to create over 150 000 job opportunities in the next five years, targeting women, youth, and persons with disabilities.
READ | Over R20 million allocated to boost North West economy 

At the roundtable, Deputy Minister Nemadzinga-Tshabalala said the roll-out of the programme is in full swing in various provinces and that the North West is the latest beneficiary.

“Young people will be trained in various fields such as engineering, agriculture and artisanal work in preparation for the job market and consequently placed in various industries,” Nemadzinga-Tshabalala added.

Human Settlements Minister Thembi Simelane has deployed a team from the Emergency Housing Unit — in collaboration with the department’s roving team — to support families impacted by the ongoing floods in KwaZulu-Natal.

During her two-day visit to the province on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Minister held discussions with provincial and local authorities to explore urgent human settlements interventions.

As part of these efforts, she announced several initiatives aimed at alleviating the immediate housing crisis for flood victims.

The interventions announced include the temporary accommodation of 225 residents from Ward 74 in Lamontville, who have been relocated to the Impala Hotel.

Simelane also announced plans to provide permanent housing for 229 families from Lamontville, who will be resettled on land owned by the eThekwini Municipality in Georgedale, near Hammarsdale.

“We will build Temporary Residential Units (TRUs) for these families, while permanent homes are being constructed. Additionally, 93 households will be supplied with building materials to help them begin rebuilding,” Simelane announced on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Simelane, accompanied by KwaZulu-Natal Transport and Human Settlements MEC Siboniso Duma, visited the flood-affected Ncube and Nkwanyana families in KwaMakhutha, south of Durban.

The Ncube family, with six members, was forced to flee their home as three of their houses were completely submerged. The family is currently living together in a two-bedroom house.

Duma confirmed that an excavator has been deployed to clear rubble and waste from the area so as to unblock the drainage system. He said after discussions with Inkosi Makhanya, a suitable piece of land has been identified to relocate the Ncube family.

Simelane also visited the Ugu District Municipality to assess the extent of the flood damage in the region, with plans for further intervention in the coming days.

Unlocking emergency housing fund 

The Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements has called on the national Department of Human Settlements, KwaZulu-Natal’s Human Settlements Department, and the eThekwini Municipality to work together to address the devastation caused by the ongoing floods in KwaZulu-Natal.

Committee chairperson Nocks Seabi emphasised the immediate need to unlock the Emergency Housing Response Fund to provide critical support to the affected communities.

Seabi said during its oversight visit in October last year, the committee highlighted various concerns with delays to ensuring access to the fund for victims of floods.

He said it is in this context that impediments must be removed, so the fund can serves its purpose by being timeous and agile in assisting victims.

“In an environment of devastation and distress, government programmes must not be tied up in bureaucracy and territorial disputes that delay interventions. We are hopeful that the concessions made by the national department on the implementation of the fund will come in handy in the response to the current disaster.

“The delays witnessed previously, such as the verification of beneficiaries and assessment of damaged houses, which had taken 10 to 12 months or longer, should be a thing of the past going forward,” Seabi said in a statement this week.

Seabi called for enhanced monitoring of building standards, as regulated by many laws, including the Housing Consumer Protection Act, and the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act to ensure that houses are able to withstand the elements.

“In an environment of increasing environmental disasters, building standards and building materials should be such that they can withstand such disasters. Stronger monitoring and inspections should be the order of the day,” the chairperson said.

Seabi extended his heartfelt condolences to the people that have passed on during the floods, which continue to wreak havoc in the province.

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy has instructed her department to lodge a high court application for a declaratory order regarding the Driving Licence Card Machine (DLCM) tender found to have been irregular by the Auditor-General South Africa (AGSA).

The department on Wednesday said the declaratory order is being sought to get guidance on how to proceed, given the findings of the AGSA audit report.

In September last year, the Minister requested the AGSA, who at the time was undertaking an audit of the procurement process for the new DLCM, to widen the scope of the audit process to include whether Supply Chain Management (SCM) prescripts were followed to the letter, and if the specs of the project included adequate measure to protect the safety of personal data, given the sensitivity of information and security features involved in this project.

The AGSA identified instances of non-compliance with the required procurement processes.

“The non-compliances emanated from transgressions of SCM prescripts (Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), Treasury Regulations and Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA) SCM policies, rendering the procurement process irregular,” the Department of Transport said on Wednesday.

The AGSA audit of the DLCA SCM processes revealed irregularities in the tender evaluation.

IDEMIA, the winning bidder, failed to meet key bid technical requirements. Additionally, the AGSA review confirmed that the other bidders were not unfairly disqualified, as they also did not meet the bid technical specifications.

All bids submitted exceeded the R486 385 million budget set by the DLCA, indicating inadequate market analysis and budgeting.

The AGSA found that the DLCA used outdated pre-COVID-19 prices, and the budget they submitted to Cabinet for approval did not include all the costs for the contract, leading to Cabinet approving a memo that was not a true reflection of the cost of the contract.

“This poses the risk of the project being delayed or cancelled due to insufficient funds,” the AGSA said in its report.

The AGSA also noted that the bid specifications included an adequate assessment of the ability of the system to protect personal data. All bidders were evaluated on this criterion, and some were responsive.

According to the AGSA, the Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC) deviated from assessing the bids using the exact criteria set out in the bid specifications when evaluating documents provided by bidders.

“The BEC members had to use their judgement and make executive decisions on how to assess the bids due to ambiguous bid specifications, which did not clearly address the DLCA requirements. This ambiguity led to discrepancies identified by the AGSA, resulting in an unfair and non-transparent procurement process.

“The inconsistencies extended beyond technical evaluation to site visits conducted by the DLCA. During these visits, the DLCA was supposed to confirm that the MX8100 machine proposed by the bidder, IDEMIA, had the required capacity and capability to deliver on the requirements. The DLCA chose to inspect an unrelated machine”.

The AGSA said the deviation from the bid specifications and the use of ambiguous criteria undermined the fairness and transparency of the procurement process.

“It is on the basis of the above that the department is in no position to turn a blind eye on the findings of the AGSA that points to irregularities in the tender process and the transgressions of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).

“In terms of section 81 (1) of the PFMA, an accounting officer for a department or a constitutional institution commits an act of financial misconduct if that accounting officer wilfully or negligently… makes or permits an unauthorised expenditure, an irregular expenditure, or a fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

“Consequently, Minister Creecy has instructed the department to lodge a high court application for a declaratory order for guidance on how to proceed, given the AGSA audit report,” the department said.

Eskom, in collaboration with the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) Energy Safety and Security Priority Committee, is continuing its crackdown on criminality within the organisation.

This after the power utility and law enforcement executed several arrests related to theft and corruption over the past few months.

“The ongoing efforts have resulted in a series of arrests, with the financial impact of these crimes totalling R1.09 million.

“To date, R873,000 has been recovered and sentencing has been executed. These arrests highlight the ongoing fight against internal and external criminal activities affecting Eskom’s operations,” the power utility said.

Some of the arrests made include that of an Eskom employee and his brother for theft, an Eskom official and security contractor for diesel theft and a weighbridge operator involved in fraudulent fuel transactions.

“An Eskom supplier and his brother in eMalahleni and Middelburg were arrested…for the theft of 16 dome valves valued at R173 000 from Tutuka Power Station. The arrests follow extensive internal and external investigations dating back to 2023.

“In a separate incident, an Eskom employee and a contracted Security Officer were arrested for diesel theft at Kriel Power Station in Mpumalanga. Eskom’s Group Security and Investigation team apprehended the suspects after observing suspicious activity.

“The investigation resulted in the seizure of…fuel trucks, which are now part of the inquiry and the arrest of the Eskom Weighbridge Operator, and the contracted Security Officer charged for theft of diesel worth over R700 000.”

Furthermore, an official has also appeared in court to face charges of corruption.

“On Thursday, 21 November 2024, the Hendrina Magistrate’s Court granted a R50 000 bail to Nonhlanhla Nhlabathi, an Eskom employee accused of corruption at Arnot Power Station in Mpumalanga. Her case has been remanded to 12 March 2025 for trial at the Middleburg Regional Court.

“While employed at Arnot Power Station, Nhlabathi allegedly extorted R220 000…from two individuals, falsely promising them a tender to supply toilets, stationery, uniforms, and baton sticks.

“Nhlabathi was formally charged by the South African Police Services (SAPS) Organised Crime – Eskom Deployment Investigation Team on 4 November 2024 and has since been dismissed following an internal disciplinary process,” Eskom said.

Last month, another suspect was sentenced to five years imprisonment after being convicted of theft of critical infrastructure at the Matimba Power Station in Limpopo.

Eskom assured South Africans that it is committed to “eradicating crime and corruption” within the power utility.

“While most of our employees are honest and dedicated, a small minority engages in criminal activities and must be identified and dealt with decisively. Eskom remains steadfast in its commitment to eradicating criminal activities within its operations.

“To strengthen governance and combat corruption, [Eskom] has restructured its forensic, security, and investigative functions under the newly established Group Investigations and Security Division, which now reports directly to the Eskom Group Chief Executive, Dan Marokane.

“Through collaboration with the NATJOINTS Energy Safety and Security Priority Committee, Eskom ensures that crime and corruption incidents are swiftly and effectively addressed, safeguarding its assets, and maintaining stakeholder trust. The conviction in the Matimba Power Station case sends a strong message that acts of crime targeting critical infrastructure will not be tolerated,” Eskom concluded.

Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has called for financial actors to actively take steps to lower the cost of borrowing for investment in the continent’s development, climate resilience and clean energy transition initiatives.

“Africa is the most mineral rich of all continents yet is the most energy deprived, underdeveloped and the poorest of all the regions,” Ramokgopa said on Tuesday.

Addressing the Africa Energy Indaba in Cape Town, the Minister said the biggest challenge confronting the continent is the ability to finance the investments that are required to realise the potential of the continent.

“The issues of the financing gap should be issues that are front and centre of the conversation. We are calling for a number of steps to be taken, including but not limited to the need to reconfigure the cost of capital.

“Our view is that developing nations face exorbitant borrowing costs due to the perceived risks that do not reflect economic fundamentals but rather outdated and what I refer to as buyers credit rating,” he said.

The Minister emphasised that it is important that issues of risk allocation should be assigned to countries that have the best capabilities of resolving the risk, among others.

“We do accept that the debt burdens that are placed on the African countries are crippling and undermine the ability to invest in development, climate resilience and clean energy transition.

“This is what sovereign nations need to do to so that we can use the countries balance sheet to enable the investments that are required in this space,” Ramokgopa said.

He advocated for greater coordination between the financial actors as he noted some degree of asymmetry and fragmentation.

“The multilateral development banks are on the one side and the developing financing institutions on the other and issues around vertical climate funds.

“What this does because there is some degree of misalignment, it undermines the possibility of us achieving greater efficiencies and this is going to hinder impact of the pocket of fund that these players are bringing to the fore to help to anchor this kinds of transition and the issues of sustainable development, the ability of the continent to extract and beneficiate closer to the source and thereby broadening the industrial flow of their respective jurisdictions,” he said.

He called for the strengthening of the role of the national development bank.

“I think there is a need for recapitalisation, especially here in South Africa. The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) can play a much bigger role if it is recapitalised, it competes with some of the commercial banks and therefore they are unable to provide the kind of concessionality that is associated with development banks.

“It stunts or undermine the prospects of them anchoring the kind of industries that we want to see because they must compete with the commercial banks on the same rates,” the Minister said.

Ramokgopa said there is a need to work very hard to attract private sector investors.

“This requires that the political actors, the elected representatives on the continent should work very hard to ensure that there is a degree of stability at a political level but create the necessary conditions, introduce reforms that are necessary to spare on private sector investments. Those are some of the interventions that we are proposing for us to be able to realise the potential of the continent,” the Minister said.

Two suspects are to appear in court soon for the alleged illegal possession of firearms, ammunition and drugs as well as the possession of illegal explosives, Western Cape police said.

According to the South African Police Service (SAPS), the 41-year-old woman and a 47-year-old man were arrested on Monday at a storage facility in Stikland where a package containing two kilograms of heroin was confiscated.

The arrests come as a multi-disciplinary team comprising Anti-Gang Unit investigators, Crime Intelligence (Counter Gangs and Narcotics) and Visible Policing Anti-Gang Unit members swooped on storage facilities and seized illegal firearms, ammunition, explosives and drugs.

“The discovery took place in Bellville South as well as in Stikland. The operation, which was the culmination of weeks of observing the movements of suspects resulted in the discovery,” said the police in a statement on Tuesday.

In Bellville South, police found three AK47 rifles, an R5 rifle and ⁠one assault rifle, 12 9mm pistols and two revolvers, among others.

“As the investigation continues, the possibility of further arrests effected cannot be ruled out. The efforts of the team have been commended by SAPS management as the Western Cape battles shooting incidents that result murder and attempted murder cases,” said the SAPS.

Spaza shop owners and vendors have until the end of the day to register their businesses with their local municipalities.

“Spaza shops must be registered to ensure that food safety laws are followed, and dangerous goods are taken off the market, keeping children safe and preventing future outbreaks,” the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) said in an earlier statement.

The deadline for registration of businesses is today, Friday, 28 February 2025.

Application forms for registration or permits to conduct business can be accessed physically at municipal offices or on the municipality’s website.

The registration of a business takes one day.

“Citizens are reminded that registering a spaza shop on behalf of another person is a criminal offense. The Immigration Act of 2002 clearly states that it is a criminal offense to assist an illegal foreigner to conduct any business in the country and to assist an illegal foreigner to obtain a licence to conduct any business,” the GCIS said.

For guidelines on spaza shop registrations visit: https://www.sanews.gov.za/features-south-africa/guide-register-spaza-shops.

Last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa extended the registration deadline for all spaza shops and food handling outlets after initially announcing the registration directive in November 2024.

This extension follows a serious incident involving foodborne illnesses, which resulted in over 890 cases and nearly 30 deaths since September 2024.

In October last year, six primary school children from Naledi, Soweto, died after allegedly eating snacks from a foreign-owned local spaza shop.

A police officer arrested for the alleged illegal possession of two firearms and ammunition, is expected to appear in the Odendaalsrus Magistrates Court today, said the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation (HAWKS).

According to the Hawks in the Free State, in January this year, Welkom-based Hawks detectives received information about a man who kept unpermitted firearms at his house. The said house was observed and confirmed as belonging to the 53-year-old suspect.

“After obtaining a search and seizure warrant, a multi-faceted team of the Hawks, Tactical Response Team (TRT), SAPS detectives, and Local Criminal Record Center (LCRC) was assembled. They descended on the house early hours of 27 February,” said the Hawks on Friday.

Free State Head of the Hawks, Major General Mokgadi Bokaba, has praised members involved in the operation for their swiftness.

“No one is above the law. This arrest is evidence of our commitment to rooting out criminality, even within our ranks,” she said.

Investigation to ascertain the involvement of these firearms in other crimes is underway.