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The shortlisting panel scrutinising nominations by the public for the position of Chief Justice has received 564 submissions of public comment in favour of or in objection to nominees.

The period for public comment closed on Friday, 15 October 2021.

In a statement on Tuesday, panel chairperson Judge Navanethem (Navi) Pillay expressed the panel’s appreciation for public participation in this process.

The Presidency said submissions vary greatly in substance and volume.

The panel will now give each nominee an opportunity to comment on the public submissions made in respect of his or her nomination.

“Upon receipt of the comments of the nominees the Panel will commence with the assessment and evaluation of each candidature in order to compile a shortlist of three to five candidates for submission to, and further consideration by the President,” the Presidency said in a statement.

The eight nominees for the position of Chief Justice are Judge President John Hlophe, Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, Justice Mandisa Maya, Dr Wallace Amos Mgoqi, Adv. Busisiwe Mkhwebane, Judge President Dunstan Mlambo, Adv. Alan Nelson, SC and Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

The panel anticipates that it would submit its shortlist of three to five names to the President by no later than 29 October 2021.

The inquiry by the Department of Employment and Labour to investigate events leading into the Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM) fatal incident is set to get underway from today until Thursday this week.

This is the second sitting since the incident took place at the premises of Rheinmetall Denel Munition in Macassar at the magisterial district of Somerset West in 2018 where an explosion at the plant led to the deaths of eight workers and fatal injury to one worker.

The first sitting took place in May 2021 where 13 witnesses were cross examined before the commission.

Since the incident in 2018, the Department of Employment and Labour says its inspectors continued with the investigation in terms in terms of section 31 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 85 of 1993 and concluded the investigation in 2019 and the report was submitted to the Chief Inspector.

The department then ordered the establishment of a section 32 inquiry to investigate violations of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) thus appointing Mphumzi Dyulete as the Presiding Inspector but the inquiry could not continue in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions.

According to the presiding officer Dyulete, a total of 17 witnesses are lined up to give evidence.

“The inquiry is continuing this week and the commission will hear testimony from all interested parties as to what transpired during that fatal day. Once the commission of inquiry has established what had happened it will compile a report and recommendations to the department’s Chief Inspector who in turn will hand over the report to the National Prosecutions Authority for consideration,” Dyulete said.

Interested parties in the inquiry include the employer, employees, organised labour, family members and the Department of Employment and Labour.

The sitting will be held from this morning until 16:30 at the Community House in Salt River at 47 Salt River Road.

The rural community of Daggakraal in Mpumalanga will have some measure of comfort, knowing that a fully-fledged police station has been built nearby.

This comes after Police Minister Bheki Cele, accompanied by National Police Commissioner General Khehla Sitole and Mpumalanga Community Safety, Security and Liaison MEC, Vusi Shongwe, on Monday officially opened the newly built police station.

During his address, Cele emphasised that access to a responsive police service is not a privilege but a right.

Cele called on the South African Police Service (SAPS) to continue to fast track the accessibility to a police officer or policing services for all South Africans and those who live within the country’s borders.

The rural community of Daggakraal was grappling with high incidents of stock theft, house breaking and varied cases of assault and sexual violence. Residents of the area had been reliant on a satellite station to access police services.

As part of efforts by the SAPS to bring services and resources closer to the people, the newly unveiled police station boasts a community service centre, holding cells and victim friendly rooms (VFR) to accommodate victims and survivors of Gender Based Violence amongst other things.

Fifty-one operational and non-operational officers will report to work at the station to better service the 35 000 people living in Daggakraal.

The occasion of the official opening of the Daggakraal police station also saw the Police Ministry and the SAPS top management conduct a community engagement session, to better understand and respond to the needs of people living in and around the area.

Responding to community concerns during the opening, which included the long distances residents had to travel to report a crime as well as the slow response time of law enforcement, Cele told the residents that the SAPS continues its service delivery programme informed by population growth and spatial development.

“The access to a responsive police service should not be a privilege but a right that we as government are working each day to achieve. The strategic deployment of resources must mean that residents of any community don’t have to walk kilometres on end or rely on an expensive taxi or bus ride to access policing services. People should not have to choose between putting food on the table and going to report a crime,“ said Cele.

The Daggakraal police station joins the list of 1 159 police stations that are servicing communities across the country.

The use of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine will remain not approved by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) amid concerns that it may increase the risk of HIV contraction among vaccinated males.

The development was confirmed on Monday by the Authority in a media statement on the Section 21 application for Sputnik V by Lamar international Pty (Ltd).

In the statement, SAHPRA said it was concerned that use of the Sputnik V vaccine in South Africa, a country with high HIV prevalence and incidence, “may increase the risk of vaccinated males acquiring HIV”.

Despite this, the Authority said the rolling review of the Sputnik V vaccine would remain open for submission of relevant safety data in support of the application.

“SAHPRA has been engaged in a rolling review of the data for the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine since the initial application was submitted on 23 February 2021.

“This vaccine was developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in the Russian Federation. The locally-licensed applicant is Lamar International Pty (Ltd).

“The Sputnik V vaccine combines two separate adenovirus-vectored constructs, one relying on the Adenovirus Type 26 (Ad26) and the other on Adenovirus Type 5 (Ad5), as the delivery vehicles for the antigen.”

Concerns have been raised about the safety of Ad5-vectored vaccines in populations at risk for HIV infection.

One of the challenges faced by such vaccines, said SAHPRA, was the presence of pre-existing Ad-specific neutralising antibodies (NAbs) in the general population.

“The safety of adenovirus vaccine vectors has been evaluated in a number of studies. In particular, the results of the STEP trial (which primarily recruited men who have sex with men in the Americas), and the PHAMBILI trial (which recruited heterosexual men and women in South Africa), were considered.

“Both clinical trials were designed to administer three doses of an Ad5-vectored vaccine encoding the HIV gag, pol and nef proteins. In both the STEP clinical and PHAMBILI trials, administration of an Ad5-vectored vaccine was associated with enhanced susceptibility/acquisition of HIV in men.”

SAHPRA said while the STEP trial was stopped in September 2007 due to lack of efficacy, evidence quickly emerged of an enhanced risk of HIV infection in uncircumcised men with high titers of pre-existing antibodies to Ad5.

It said over extended follow-up, the increased risk of HIV among vaccine recipients became “statistically significant when the entire trial population was analysed”.

The STEP trial results led to the early cessation of the PHAMBILI trial. Although the initial results from the PHAMBILI trial did not show enhanced HIV risk, this risk was confirmed after extended follow-up.

The Authority said during the assessment of the application for approval of the Sputnik V vaccine, SAHPRA reviewed the outcomes of the two trials in detail, as well as the arguments advanced in a commentary in Lancet in 2020, by Buchbinder et al.

In particular, reads the statement, the commentary pointed to confirmatory data from a non-human primate challenge study.

Subsequently SAHPRA, it said, requested the applicant to provide data demonstrating the safety of the Sputnik V vaccine in settings of high HIV prevalence and incidence.

The applicant was not able to adequately address SAHPRA’s request.

In addition, SAHPRA said it had held a consultation meeting with expert committees, including leading members of the local and international scientific community on this matter.

SAHPRA added that to date, the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine has not received Emergency Use Listing by the World Health Organization (WHO).

It said most recent WHO update indicates that the process is “on hold, awaiting completion of rolling submission”.

A further note states: “Anticipated date will be set once all data is submitted and follow-up of inspection observations completed”.

“Recent media coverage has confirmed that there is ongoing engagement between WHO and the Russian authorities.”

The resolution to not grant the application to date was after the authority held consultations with local and international scientific experts and after considering all the available data, including review of the dossier submitted by Lamar International (Pty) Ltd.

Home Affairs Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, has approved a temporary extension of operating times by two and a half hours at front offices from 08:00 to 17:30 starting from today.

This is to enable the department to deal with the high demand for services at Home Affairs offices.

Out of the 412 Home Affairs offices, 197 are modernised Live Capture offices which can process Smart ID Cards and passports.

These are the offices that will operate for extended hours due to the high demand.

“The Deputy Minister and I have been receiving a lot of complaints from irate citizens across the country. Most of these people have complained about a bad practice by some Home Affairs offices where queues are cut and people sent home presumably because there are already more than enough people to serve for the day,” Motsoaledi said.

“We learnt that this wrong practice of sending people home can happen as early as 07:00. We want to emphasise that there is no government policy that provides for that and members of the public should not be treated like that.

“Where it happens, members of the public must challenge it, take down the name of the official who wants to send them home and raise it with the office manager,” the Minister said.

Motsoaledi said the temporary extension is only meant to resolve congestion at the identified offices which increased over the last two weeks and this intervention will be supported by the 100% return of staff in all the offices.

Motsoaledi explained that the only people who will be sent home are those who arrive after 17:30. Everybody who arrives before 17:30 should be served and not turned away.

“Home Affairs exists to deliver enabling documents to people. We can’t turn away people who are looking for public services if they arrive within the stipulated hours of work,” Motsoaledi said.

In the unfortunate event of the system being offline, the department said it will ensure quick intervention and appeal to members of the public to understand because this is something beyond their control.

Senior managers will visit offices unannounced to monitor operations on the ground.

“We urge everyone who comes to our offices to observe social distancing, sanitise their hands regularly and to wear their masks properly, covering their noses and mouths. Nobody will be assisted if they are not wearing their masks properly,” the Minister said.

South Africa has recorded 414 new COVID-19 cases, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2 916 593 since the outbreak.

The increase represents a 1.8% positivity rate.

“There has been an increase of 18 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours,” the Department of Health said in a statement.

A further 25 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 88 612 to date.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, said it continues to provide laboratory-based surveillance to inform the public health response towards COVID-19 in South Africa.

According to the department, 18 174 247 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.

In the private sector, 9 793 716 tests were conducted, while 8 380 531 tests were conducted in the public sector.

The majority of new cases are from the Western Cape (22%), followed by Gauteng, accounting for 21%.

KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 16% of the new cases, Free State 13%, Northern Cape 11%, Eastern Cape 7%, North West 5%, Mpumalanga 3% and Limpopo 2%.

The cumulative number of cases by province is: Eastern Cape 31, Northern Cape 45, Limpopo 7, Western Cape 93, Free State 52, KwaZulu-Natal 67, North West 21, Mpumalanga 11 and Gauteng 87.

Gauteng Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Elias Mawela, has sent condolences to the family of Warrant Officer Jan Christoffel Esterhuysen, who was killed on Saturday evening during a roadblock in Khutsong, in the West Rand.

In a statement, Gauteng SAPS said it was reported that a 20-year-old driver failed to stop at the roadblock, hitting a stationary vehicle and Esterhuysen, who was controlling the traffic.

“The suspect tried to flee the scene but other members managed to stop him and it was established that he was drunk. Esterhuysen was rushed to hospital where he unfortunately succumbed to his injuries,” said provincial SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Brenda Muridili.

Esterhuysen was stationed at the Fochville Visible Policing Unit. He had 27 years of loyal service in the South African Police Service.

Mawela commended the contribution Esterhuysen made to the organisation during his years in the service.

Meanwhile, Mpumalanga police have launched a manhunt for murder suspects after an incident in which two people were fatally shot next to a liquor outlet on Saturday.

One of the victims was Detective Constable Nkosinathi Lucky Ngwenya and civilian Jaftha Mnisi, aged 35.

Mpumalanga SAPS spokesperson Colonel Donald Mdhluli said the incident was brought to the attention of the authorities by Hightech Security Company officials.

“It was indicated that two people were shot. Upon arrival at the scene, SAPS members as well as paramedics discovered two lifeless bodies of males with multiple gunshot wounds.

“They were unfortunately certified dead whilst some empty cartridges were retrieved at the scene. A case with two counts of murder was opened, with the launch of a manhunt for the suspects,” said Mdhluli.

The SAPS member was off duty during the time of the incident and he was attached to Detective Services in Nelspruit.

The motive for the killing is unknown at this stage. Circumstances surrounding the said incident will form part of the probe.

Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa has congratulated the newly crowned Miss SA Lalela Mswane.

Mswane, 24, from KwaZulu-Natal walked away with the Miss SA 2021 title on Saturday at the Grand Arena, Grand West in Cape Town.

She was crowned at the 63rd edition of the Miss South Africa pageant by former Miss South Africa, Shudufhadzo Musida.

The two runners-up were Moratwe Masima from Gauteng and Zimi Mabunzi from Eastern Cape.

Mswane, who is a model and dancer, holds a Bachelor of Law qualification from the University of Pretoria.

Mthethwa wished Mswane all the best in her reign as Miss South Africa.

“We trust that she will represent the country very well. She certainly embodies the leadership qualities that are key to making an impact in the world as an ambassador of this country,” Mthethwa said.

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has announced that it expects to convene an inquiry into allegations of racial discrimination within the advertising industry next year.

The inquiry is expected to sit during the last week of February 2022.

According to the SAHRC, the inquiry comes on the back of the fighting and publication of advertisements that have caused uproar from within the industry and society because of racist undertones.

“In order to avoid the publication of another tone-deaf racist or discriminatory advert, and to ensure… [the promotion] of respect for human rights, a culture of human rights, and protection, development and attainment of human rights, the Commission will undertake an investigation, into, amongst other aspects, the creation and publication of adverts and the people involved.”

The commission said following the inquiry, medium to long term interventions will be drafted for the industry.

“[These] will instil… a culture of human rights and produce mechanisms that promote equality and prevent unfair discrimination, and, in doing so, prevent the publication of… racist, sexist, tribalist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic or ableist… advertisements”.

The SAHRC has invited members of the public, advertising agencies, retailers, regulatory bodies, marketers, organisations, government departments and entities and interest groups to make written submissions to the Commission in this regard.

The deadline for submissions is Friday, 31 January 2022.

Written submissions may be submitted via email at Inquiry@sahrc.org.za, fax at 011 403 0668 or hand delivered to 1st Floor, 27 Stiemens Street, JD House, Braamfontein

The Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport has obtained a court order interdicting violence between two Johannesburg rival taxi associations.

This is in the wake of the Witwatersrand African Taxi Owners Association (WATA) and the Nancefield Dube West Taxi Association (Nanduwe) engaging in suspected battles at the weekend.

On Sunday, reports emerged of taxis being burned and others damaged in the city.

“According to the Johannesburg High Court, the ‘Chairpersons of both associations and their members are interdicted from preventing, obstructing, or otherwise interfering with the rights of taxi operators and or any public transport operators to operate their transport businesses between Soweto and Johannesburg CBD’,” said the department.

It further interdicts the associations from intimidating, committing, or threatening to commit acts of violence against any public transport operator. This includes their agents or employees and members of the public who make use and who wish to make use of the bus services between Soweto and Johannesburg CBD.

The Department of Roads and Transport approached the court on an urgent basis, seeking the interdict which empowers the South African Police Service and the Gauteng Department of Community Safety, Gauteng Province to take necessary steps to ensure that the associations comply with this court order.

MEC Jacob Mamabolo said: “Whilst in our view the situation has returned to normality, we urge law enforcement to enforce the law, hold criminals accountable and secure the safety of commuters and other road users.

“We held positive consultations with both the leadership of WATA and NANDUWE together with their mother body structures, the Gauteng National Taxi Alliance (GNTA) and the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) respectively and we are buoyed by the fact that all parties have condemned the violence and committed to peace.”

At a meeting held on Sunday, according to the department, all parties committed to the cessation of hostilities and ensuring the transport services between Soweto and the Johannesburg CBD continue safely, without endangering the lives of commuters.

“We are pleased that all parties involved have agreed to urgently address the root cause of the violence, which are disputes over routes. In this regard, the platforms for negotiations we have created as the provincial government remain available,” said Mamabolo.

The department said it remained steadfast in its programme of modernising and corporatising the taxi industry for it to be a competitive, safe and reliable mode of public transport.