First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.
Never mind stepping aside from his role as secretary-general, Ace Magashule could make a run for the position of ANC president if the party holds its national elective conference next year.
Reports are increasingly surfacing suggesting this may happen – like one in City Press last weekend – while his local cadres in the Free State also tout the possibility.
Magashule is unlikely to step down from his role voluntarily, even though the party’s integrity commission has recommended that the national executive committee (NEC) make him do so. Instead, he has lawyered up, using the constitutional right to a guarantee of being innocent until proven guilty in court as a key pillar of his defence. Magashule has commissioned at least three legal opinions to bolster his position. Although the topic may be raised at this weekend’s NEC meeting, the draft guidelines developed by the party to govern the step-aside process are not
Jaco Marais
Zane Killian and four others made a quick court appearance on charges of the attempted murder of defence lawyer William Booth.
Killian is still waiting for the outcome of his bail application on the charge of the murder of Anti-Gang Unit detective Lieutenant-Colonel Charl Kinnear.
His appearance was low key without the blazing sirens and armed side riders that marked previous arrivals and departures.
Former rugby player and private investigator Zane Killian made a quick appearance in the Cape Town Magistrate s Court with four other people accused of attempting to murder well-known Cape Town lawyer William Booth.
His arrival, in the same checked shirt with cut off sleeves that he wore for his bail application in Bellville Regional Court on Tuesday for the murder of Anti-Gang Unit detective Lieutenant-Colonel Charl Kinnear, was low key.
Artist Luke Jerram with his glass sculpture of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine at the Paintworks on February 05, 2021 in Bristol, England. The sculpture, which is one million times larger than the actual vaccine nanoparticle, marks the ten millionth vaccination to be administered in the UK. (Photo by Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)
A healthcare worker jokes with a patient after she received a COVID-19 vaccination on February 4, 2021 in Federal Way, Washington. Swedish Medical Center held a mobile vaccination clinic at the Pacific Islander Community Association of Washington to serve racial and ethnic minority groups disproportionately affected by COVID-19. (Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images)
After two failed pretrial conferences in the Western Cape High Court to ensure that all documents relating to the case were in order and legal representations sorted out, a trial date for murder accused Moyhdian Pangarker has not been set.
On Wednesday, the pre-trial conference was postponed to 19 March due to the unavailability of Pangarker’s legal representative. However, despite the delays Pangarker will get his day in the dock where he will plead to the 20 charges he faces. These include the murder of eight-year-old Tazne van Wyk in February 2020, 11 counts of rape, three counts of common assault, one count of sexual assault, two counts of kidnapping, incest and violation/desecration of a corpse.
Jaco Marais
So-called private investigator Zane Kilian allegedly had so much personal information on murdered Anti-Gang Unit member Charl Kinnear that he even knew details of the detective
s bond.
The State alleged during his bail application that not only was Kinnear and lawyer William Booth tracked, but their wives and security company players were also targeted for either pinging or having their personal details trawled.
Kilian claims he only worked for a mystery Mr X who needed to know when the police were coming to his house.
On the day the Hawks descended on Zane Kilian s house in Springs in the course of the investigation into Anti-Gang Unit detective Charl Kinnear s murder, he allegedly made a hurried phone call.