The newly elected Mayor of Maluti-A-Phofung Municipality, Tumelo Thebe, has wasted no time in setting the tone for his administration, unveiling an ambitious plan to restore dignity, improve service delivery, and rebuild public confidence in a municipality that has struggled with governance and infr...
South African banks accused of manipulating the rand are set to present their case to the Constitutional Court on Tuesday.
They plan to outline the financial and reputational damage caused by the Competition Commission’s allegations of being part of a “banking cartel”.
In January last year, the Competition Appeal Court reviewed the matter against 28 banks, dismissing the case against most of them.
Despite the Competition Appeal Court’s dismissing most of the claims, the case is now being taken to the Constitutional Court.
The institutions approaching the court include FirstRand and Standard Bank, among others.
Their legal teams will spend the next four days arguing that some of the evidence presented, including conversations spanning over seven years, is too weak to substantiate a single, overarching conspiracy.
The North West Legislature Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Human Settlements has questioned the 2-year contract extension of the North West Housing Corporation (NWHC) CEO, Sello Mogodiri.
The provincial Department of Human Settlements informed the committee during an oversight meeting that Mogodiri’s contract, which ended in July, has been extended.
Mogodiri was appointed as the CEO in August 2020 and has been lashed by different political parties in the province for his controversial Smart and Mega City R74.3 billion project plan.
The bone of contention was the 2-year contract extension of Mogodiri.
The extension comes amidst the portfolio committee’s call for the suspension of the CEO and the halt of all Mega and Smart City projects.
After a failed R250 000 event at Lokaleng village, outside Mahikeng and allegations that entity was pushing forward with developments on disputed land.
Chairperson of Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements Kgalalelo Makgokgowa and Democratic Alliance (DA) member of the legislature CJ Steyl voiced their concerns.
“I was worried about the legal implications because under normal circumstances you were to extend for someone who’s been a substantive CEO, you would usually go for six months for just preparation, for the handover to the next incumbent. Two years seems a bit steep,” says Makgokgowa.
“Quite shocking news considering the road we’ve been walking with the housing corporation over the last year. One would have considered that an extension can be made on six months, three months. You know when a contract comes to its natural end, there is no legal requirements to justify extending that contract or not because there’s a start date, there’s an end date,” says Steyl.
Steyl accused the entity of tying the CEO to projects
“The other issue that was raised is that the CEO had initiated certain projects and that it would be unfair or disadvantages to the entity should the contract be ended and that would negatively impact those projects. That in itself chairperson is a serious consequence that a project of an entity is tied to, directly linked, its success and the outcome, to the accounting officer,” he says.
MEC for Human Settlements Gaoage Molapisi defended their decision to extend the contract
“I want honorouble Steyl to tell me which law says that you must bring issues if the advert or whatever before this committee. Where in law does it say that before we process we must come before this committee. There’s no such a thing, so let’s not make wrong assumptions here. Now, you say there’s a house resolution to discipline and suspend the CEO, where’re that? So you can’t question us when we’ve taken a decision to extend for two years, because you would have preferred us to extend for six months,” she says.
The interim board’s term of office is coming to an end next month.
Board Chairperson Dr Manketse Tlhape argues that they needed Mogodiri, who was initially running the ship alone.
“The interim board came in April and we found the contract of the CEO was just about to expire. It was expiring 13th July. So, as in when we trying to find our feet, we had the Auditor-General also coming for audits. We did not have any much information about the institution. We looked for the legal advice also in that regard to say how do we deal with that because we had no option but to extend. Remember that as in entity we did not have a board for two years. He was the accounting officer he was the accounting authority,” she says.
MEC Molapisi says that the CEO’s departure would have collapsed the entity
“There has been some bit of instability in the entity itself. The term of the CEO was coming to an end or came to an end in July. We have extended contract of the CEO. The CEO had requested initially that the contract be extended for a period of five years. The MEC could not approve this. There are quite a number of things that were are busy dealing with and had you allowed the departure of the CEO. The coming to an end of the interim board we were going to collapse the entity and all the initiative that we have put in place,” says Molapisi.
The DA alleges that the contract was extended without considering the CEO’s concerning performance at the NWHC.
“It might be that you can consider extending a contract based on exception of good performance but then the submissions from the chairperson was that they couldn’t assess because performance appraisal has been done they couldn’t assess the performance of the CEO. How is that justification because the reports that we’ve been receiving in this committee is that there wasn’t any performance?” asks Steyl.
The DA, which has vehemently rejected the extension, says it will request a full report in the legislature.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) wants Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille to urgently account to Parliament following the precautionary suspension of South African Tourism CEO, Nombulelo Guliwe.
The party says De Lille’s decision to attack the Board’s decision will scapegoat Guliwe.
De Lille says, according to legal advice, only the Chairperson of the Board can call a Board meeting, and SA Tourism currently has no Board Chairperson.
DA MP Haseena Ismail says, “Instead of focusing on the allegations against the CEO, the Minister is fixated on whether the board had the authority to suspend her without a chairperson. However, it cannot be that the Minister attacks the board while giving no attention to the serious allegations against the CEO.
Meanwhile, Ministerial Spokesperson, Aldrin Sampear, says, “The Minister has written to the board to give reasons on why they believe the board should not be dissolved. The submissions have now been received, and the Minister is currently looking at those. The Minister will also be convening the sector and speaking to them about the developments that have taken place at South African Tourism.”
The case returns to the Pretoria High Court on Monday.
Former defence minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, wants the bank records of the businesswoman she is accused of accepting bribes from in exchange for government tenders.
Mapisa-Nqakula is charged with 12 counts of corruption and one of money laundering.
It’s alleged that between 2016 and 2019, she received over R4.5 million in kickbacks from a defence contractor.
The case returns to the Pretoria High Court on Monday.
Controversial businesswoman, Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu, is listed as a section 204 witness in this case.
This means that while she is implicated in the alleged crime, she may be granted indemnity from prosecution due to her testimony.
In court records, its alleged that Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu paid Mapisa-Nqakula millions in kickbacks for her assistance in directing defence tenders her way.
Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu also has a separate corruption case, which was struck from the court roll due to persistent delays.
Lawyers for Mapisa-Nqakula have requested the State to handover Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu’s bank records and the full details of why her corruption case was dropped.
ANC factional battles have seemingly begun to play themselves out openly in government corridors with Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation (SACR) MEC Ntombizanele Sifuba allegedly pulling the rug out from under the feet of departmental head, Steve Tshabalala, unexpectedly this week.
A leaked official letter from Sifuba’s office has been making the rounds on social media platforms this week, announcing to all SACR management staff that all delegation duties about the head of department (HOD) had been withdrawn with immediate effect in terms of Regulations 25 and 26 of the Public Service Act of 1994 - including all amendments.
The letter further indicated that all authoritative powers formerly held by Tshabalala’s office have been officially moved over to Sifuba’s office.
“All matters requiring executive attention or decisions formerly handled by the HOD must henceforth be directed to the Executive Authority until further notice,” reads part of the letter.
When Journal News reached out to SACR for comment, department spokesperson Tankiso Zola refused to shed more light on the matter, citing that it was an internal departmental issue.
"The subject matter of your enquiry is an internal departmental matter which, in tandem with employer-employee relations, the Executive Authority of the department cannot offer public commentary about," he said.
Although it is not clear whether Tshabalala has been entirely removed from his role or merely suspended until further notice, Sifuba’s actions have been interpreted as a power move attempt to weaken another faction within the Free State ANC, which Tshabalala belongs to.
Both Sifuba and Tshabalala are believed to belong two opposing internal ANC factions respectively, as members of the ANC provincial executive committee (PEC). These latest developments in the SACR corridors have therefore set the battleground for this unfolding power tussle.
Rife speculations suggest that Sifuba belongs to the ‘Kaizer Sebothelo faction’ - which is currently led by ANC Free State chairperson Mxolisi Dukwana - while Tshabalala is believed to be aligned to the ‘OR Tambo faction’, spearheaded by Free State Premier Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae.
The two factions are believed to be discreetly wrestling for power, with Sifuba’s recent move openly drawing the line in the sand. This political tiff is expected to further intensify with the OR Tambo cohort expected to counter this move in due course.
According to internal sources within the ANC PEC, Tshabalala has faced criticism in the past over alleged misuse of public funds - prompting Sifuba to act.
The source tells Journal News that former SACR MEC Limakatso Mahasa had reprimanded Tshabalala, pointing to the leaked recordings where Mahasa questioned Tshabalala about the R8 million spent on the Premier's Soccer Tournament and another R3 million that was spent on a failed Freedom Day celebrations in Thaba Nchu, where no one from the public showed up.
There are further allegations of Tshabalala channelling departmental funds towards the annual ANC January 8 celebrations, which were held in QwaQwa.
With the Mangaung Cultural Festival (Macufe) looming, further speculations suggest that Sifuba’s withdrawal of Tshabalala’s powers is aimed at safeguarding the festival’s funds against any potential misappropriation.
Meanwhile, ANC provincial secretary Polediso Motsoeneng claimed to not be aware of the tensions between Sifuba and Tshabalala.
Journal News managed to reach Tshabalala when contacted for comment, and he requested to meet for an interview this coming week. This is a developing story.
The ANC’s Xhariep region is in disarray, crippled by intensifying factional battles and a deepening leadership vacuum that has effectively brought the organisation’s operations to a standstill.
The most recent blow came when a long-awaited Regional Executive Committee (REC) meeting collapsed shortly after it began, exposing the extent of internal divisions and political dysfunction that threatened to engulf the region.
Frustrated party members have allegedly issued an ultimatum to the leadership: disband the REC or face an internal revolt—at the risk of losing the upcoming elections. They cite entrenched divisions, ineffective leadership, and a total breakdown of trust in the current regional structure.
Members accuse the REC of blatantly flouting the party’s constitution by failing to convene regular Regional Working Committee (RWC) and REC meetings. They also claim the leadership is exploiting municipalities to consolidate power, sidelining communities and further undermining service delivery—damaging the ANC’s credibility in key battleground areas.
“Unless urgent action is taken to restructure the leadership or dissolve the entire REC, currently led by Chairperson Paki Dlomo and Secretary Shakes Mphako, the organisation’s electoral fortunes in the region will continue to nosedive. We can’t sit and fold our arms while that happens,” said a concerned party member, who requested anonymity.
“We have engaged the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) on our challenges. Now it’s up to them to act—or face our revolt.”
Another frustrated party member revealed that tensions in the region have escalated due to Dlomo and Mphako’s recent attempts to remove certain deployees from municipal positions without proper consultation.
“There have been efforts to remove comrades from their positions in municipalities, and the regional structure was completely sidelined in the process. We only learned about these developments after they were presented to the PEC as if they were official REC resolutions,” the member said.
He said Mphako attempted to orchestrate the removal of Letsemeng Local Municipality Speaker Xolani Mthukwane, Chief Whip Abram Lebaka, and Mohokare Municipality Chief Whip Pule Mahapane.
According to the member, despite clear constitutional requirements for regional leaders to convene regular meetings, only Dlomo and Mphako allegedly hold secret meetings and make decisions on behalf of the entire REC.
The ANC constitution stipulates that the REC must meet as soon as possible after its election to elect the RWC, and thereafter at least once a month (rule 21.6.1). Rule 21.10.3 further mandates the RWC to meet at least every two weeks.
“I can tell you now that the REC has only met twice in the past 12 months. Yet decisions are being presented to the PEC and municipalities as though they are legitimate REC resolutions,” he said. “The most recent attempt to convene a meeting—scheduled for June—collapsed shortly after it began. That would have been only the third meeting in a year.”
His claims are corroborated by a letter written by REC member Mthetho Lalu to Provincial Secretary Polediso Motsoeneng this week, as well as a petition addressed to both the regional chairperson and secretary raising alarm over the non-sitting of REC and RWC meetings.
Journal News is in possession of both documents.
In his letter—confirmed as authentic by Lalu, though he declined further comment and referred the matter to the party’s communications office—he accuses Dlomo and Mphako of bypassing the REC and unilaterally conveying mandates to the PEC and ANC caucuses in the region.
“Things cannot go on like this, comrades, where a few individuals meet and take major decisions on behalf of the organisation without consulting the elected regional structure,” the letter reads in part.
Lalu urged Motsoeneng to intervene urgently, warning that failure to act would force them to rebel against decisions made without proper consultation.
A petition signed by 13 REC members in May—including Lalu—issued a further warning: if the current failure to hold meetings continues, “the organisation is going to die, as it is already dead in the region—and we cannot allow that to happen.”
Journal News spoke to both Mphako and Dlomo, who dismissed the allegations as baseless and described them as “malicious rumours” spread by ill-disciplined members.
When asked to respond to the accusations, Mphako declined to comment in detail, saying he would not entertain rumours in the media.
“Just as you won’t reveal your sources, I’m not obliged to explain myself to you. These are rumours being spread by a comrade in a letter that’s now circulating everywhere. I’m not aware of the issues you’re referring to, including the petition,” said Mphako.
Dlomo, however, dismissed Lalu’s claims, accusing him of ill-discipline and of advancing a personal agenda within the organisation.
“Firstly, there are established organisational processes and channels that every member is expected to follow when raising grievances. Comrade Lalu’s actions amount to ill-discipline. What he fails to explain is why he does not attend meetings or submit apologies for his absence. The organisation cannot be held to ransom by individuals pursuing personal agendas. These are malicious rumours being spread by Lalu and those aligned with him,” said Dlomo.
Attempts to get a comment from ANC provincial spokesperson Thabo Meeko were unsuccessful.
However, this publication has reliably learned that upon receiving Lalu’s letter, that is also sent to Motsoeneng, Mphaka issued a memorandum on Friday to convene a meeting with the regional leadership, scheduled for Tuesday in Reddersburg.
