Achieving an unqualified finding from the auditor-general for the first time in 12 years was enough for Nelson Mandela Bay’s chief financial officer Selwyn Thys, a teetotaller, to pop a bottle of champagne with his wife.
Stephen van Coller, former CEO of IT services group EOH, says the perpetrators of corporate corruption are being let off the hook while the businesses they brought to their knees, and those trying to save them, are kicked in the teeth.
Eastern Cape municipalities that have been battling to service Eskom debt have been given a lifeline after finance minister Enoch Godongwana announced on Wednesday the introduction of a new R2bn conditional grant to fund the rollout of smart prepaid meters. This will begin with municipalities that have been approved for debt relief.
Telecommunications companies MTN SA and Vodacom have reflected on their investments in the Eastern Cape over the 2023/2024 financial year, an accumulated R800m, though an internal study by the University of Fort Hare on its students has revealed that 64.5% are still without proper connectivity. In a media statement, Vodacom said it would invest more than R500m into the province towards new base stations, improving network capacity, LTE upgrades, backup power stability and a 5G rollout.
The police destroyed drugs with a street value of R800m Thursday morning. Presiding over the process, police national commissioner, Gen Fanie Masemola, said this was the third time, within a year, the SAPS had destroyed drugs, which included cocaine, heroin, mandrax and marijuana. Masemola highlighted that the drugs were confiscated during Operation Shanela, where police officers conduct regular roadblocks, patrols, stop and searches, cordon and searches, high visibility patrols, com.