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Daily News – June 16

Arthur Fraser meets with Hawks about the Ramaphosa farm scandal

Former spy chief Arthur Fraser met with Hawks investigators on Wednesday to give them more details about the alleged theft of $4 million (about R61 million) in cash from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s game farm in Limpopo.

Fraser’s attorney, Eric Mabuza, confirmed the meeting in a brief statement.

“Today, June 15, 2022, Mr. Arthur Fraser met with the Priority Crimes Investigation Branch (the Hawks) to assist them in their investigation into his complaint against His Excellency, President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa,” reads the press release.

Mkhwebane suffers another loss at ConCourt, due to payment of Ivan Pillay’s Sars retirement

The Constitutional Court (ConCourt) has rejected Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s request to allow an appeal against an earlier judgment regarding the early retirement payment awarded to former Sars deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay.

The court denied Mkhwebane’s leave to appeal with costs.

“The Constitutional Court examined the request for leave to appeal. He concluded that the claim should be dismissed as it had no reasonable prospect of success,” the judgment read.

GA report: Municipality finances dumpster fire, while consultants laugh all the way to the bank

The Auditor General has once again laid bare the mess of financial accountability in local governments across the country, while exposing how consultants earned R1.26 billion in 2020/21 carrying out financial accounting tasks from basis for which city officials are already paid more than 10 billion rand. in wages.

That’s over R11 billion paid for a financial management system that was only able to produce credible financial statements in 25% of cases, with one municipality even paying a consultant R34 million to do their reporting of income.

Government faces legal action over non-renewal of Zimbabwe exemption permit

The Helen Suzman Foundation is threatening to sue the government over its decision not to renew Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEPs).

In November, the Council of Ministers decided not to extend the ZEPs, which were renewed every four years.

Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele said at the time that a 12-month grace period would be granted when the exemption permit expired.

Youth Day: MPs worry about unemployment, drug abuse and GBV crisis

South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis, access to quality education, gender-based violence (GBV) and substance abuse took center stage on Wednesday during the National Assembly’s debate on the occasion of Youth Day.

MPs held the debate under the theme “Promoting Sustainable Livelihoods and Youth Resilience in South Africa for a Brighter Future”.

The debate was ahead of Youth Day on Wednesday to commemorate the Soweto Youth Uprising of June 16, 1976.

PSC receives over 700,000 government corruption tips in first three months of 2022

The Public Service Commission (PSC) has expressed concern at the high number of whistleblowers it has received in recent months over allegations of government corruption.

The PSC released its quarterly State of the Public Service bulletin on Tuesday for the period from January 1 to March 31, 2022.

The commission revealed that it had received a total of 701,227 calls through its National Anti-Corruption Hotline (NACH) relating to corruption allegations in the first three months of this year. These included dropped calls and calls made for the purpose of investigation and seeking advice.

Ryanair drops ‘inappropriate’ Afrikaans citizenship test

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said his airline had dropped the controversial questionnaire for South African passengers asking them to answer questions in Afrikaans.

Ryanair’s decision to interview South African passport holders in Afrikaans before they board the plane has been heavily criticized in South Africa.

The airline said it introduced the questionnaire in response to the high prevalence of fraudulent South African passports.

Dineo Ranaka leaves Metro FM for Kaya, Sol Phenduka also joins the station

Radio station Kaya 959 shocked its listeners on Tuesday night, announcing new hosts on their station, without addressing the elephant in the room that is the status of Thomas Msengana and Skhumba Hlophe’s show.

The station made a startling announcement that Metro FM host Dineo Ranaka and Podcast and relax with MacG co-host Sol Phenduka will join the station.

In an earlier statement, Dineo said after four years on Metro FM on the show The bridgeit will leave the station on Friday, June 17.

No reason to panic, says Bavuma after Proteas punch in third T20

There is no reason to panic, assured Proteas captain Temba Bavuma after his side’s big loss to India in the third T20 International in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.

After chasing big scores in the first two games of the series to go 2-0 on the Proteas home court and beat them let them down in Game 3, the team crashed out in a 48-point loss, after being knocked out for 131 in the final of their pursuit.

There are still two matches to play, with the series 2-1 in favor of the Bavuma team.