De Lille first witness in Zuma corruption trial
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DURBAN - PUBLIC Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille will be the first state witness when former president Jacob Zumaâs corruption, fraud, money laundering, racketeering and tax evasion trial resumes on Monday.
De Lille, who first blew the whistle on the multi-billion rand arms deal almost 22 years ago, told Independent Media the National Prosecuting Authority had asked to her give evidence on the document she presented in the National Assembly on September 9, 1999.
She said she would be the stateâs first witness when the trial resumes on Monday at the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg.
The Editors Table: Zuma s day of reckoning: Will he finally go on trial?
The trial of former president Jacob Zuma has been 16 years in the making and is finally expected to commence on Monday, 17 May.
He is facing charges of corruption, racketeering, money laundering and fraud in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg. The charges are related to the infamous arms deal.
Prosecutor Billy Downer previously said all parties were ready for the trial. But Zuma s lawyer s decision to withdraw from the case – just weeks before it was supposed to start – could mean more delays. There’s more to this story
KwaZulu-Natal Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC wants the appointments of two municipal managers set aside.
The High Court in Pietermaritzburg previously ruled in favour of the MEC, setting aside the appointments.
But the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the decision, stating that the delay in launching the application for review was unreasonable.
The appointments of two KwaZulu-Natal municipal managers (MM) should be declared null and void and should be set aside.
KwaZulu-Natal Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Sipho Hlomuka wants Mthonjaneni municipal manager Philani Sibiya and Nkandla s MM, Langelihle Jili, booted from their posts.
On Tuesday, the Constitutional Court heard that the two municipal managers did not comply with the required qualifications.
News24 reported the forensic auditor told the commission a report deeming the water being supplied to hospitals in the province safe was ignored to flout tender processes in the procurement of water purification plants.
White testified about how processes were circumvented by entities linked to one another, submitting competitive cover quotes against one another.
He told the commission in instances where the water purification plants were procured, they were never used as there was no budget to procure the required chemicals .It was later known as the so-called Amigos case, involving allegations of racketeering, corruption and fraud worth R144 million in KZN provincial contracts given in return for sweeteners , News24 reported.
We do not know how many LGBTQ people are violently attacked or murdered in South Africa each year in homophobic or transphobic hate crimes. The South African Police Service (SAPS) does not keep statistics on hate crimes, and even if it did, many homophobic and transphobic hate crimes would not be classified as such because of the reluctance of the authorities to acknowledge the homophobic and transphobic motivation behind many of these attacks. (Similarly, authorities seem to be reluctant to acknowledge that attacks on many foreigners are fuelled by xenophobia.)
We do know that several LGBTQ individuals have been brutally murdered over the past few weeks because some news outlets have reported on at least some of these murders. The victims include Bonang Gaele, Nonhlanhla Kunene, Sphamandla Khoza, Nathaniel “SpokGoane” Mbele, Andile “Lulu” Nthuthela, Lonwabo Jack, Buhle Phoswa and Lucky Kleinboy Motshabi. These murders sparked nationwide protests from some members of the