Category: Reportage

Source: South Africa News Agency

Nine marine inspectors from the Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) appeared at the Hermanus Magistrate‘s Court for alleged involvement in an abalone-poaching syndicate. The inspectors are Zihle Diko, Winston Mervin Busch, Craven Siyabulela Mxaku, Linda Nkeleni, John Karelse, Allistair Maans, Nomvuyo Concellia Motloun… See more

Source: South Africa News Agency

Police Minister, General Bheki Cele, has commended police action in apprehending the suspects linked to the murder of Captain Dumisani Mhlanzi.

“Police action will continue to be tough and hard on dangerous criminals, they must retreat or regret. The energy levels of police action have been reloaded from that of a smaller engine to the top-notch engine capacity,” said Minister Cele.

He added that “police must regain public confidence and our communities must be safe and feel safe. The time has come for criminals to understand the fearless police language and begin to seriously respect the dignified blue.”

A specialized team led by members of the National Intervention Unit exchanged fire with the suspects in KwaMashu last night which resulted in the killing of three suspects and two of them arrested.

The suspects were heavily armed and were also found in possession of a number of high powered firearms including that of the late Captain Mhlanzi who was killed during a robbery in KwaMaphumulo two weeks ago.

The two suspects aged 25 and 39 are expected to appear in the KwaMaphumulo Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

In the same depth, Minister Cele issued a stern warning to police officers who intimidate and insult victims of crime.

This follows an incident in Midrand police station where a woman was badly treated by police officers.

Swift action was taken against the officers who were allegedly implicated in the incident and all three were suspended with immediate effect, pending a SAPS disciplinary process.

“Police officers at station level are at the critical point of service delivery and therefore their service must always be on point. Any officer found to be ill-treating victims of crime will be dealt with accordingly through police discipline. Let us continue to serve and protect,” Minister Cele said. – SAnews.gov.za

Source: South Africa News Agency

Nine marine inspectors from the Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) appeared at the Hermanus Magistrate‘s Court for alleged involvement in an abalone-poaching syndicate.

The inspectors are Zihle Diko, Winston Mervin Busch, Craven Siyabulela Mxaku, Linda Nkeleni, John Karelse, Allistair Maans, Nomvuyo Concellia Motloung, Adam Baadjies and Rudolph Louw.

The nine appeared in court along with eight abalone syndicate members on Wednesday facing charges ranging from racketeering, corruption and defeating the ends of justice.

The alleged syndicate members are Richard George Malan, Dennis John Swartz, Donovan Williams, Eugene Herandien, Courtley May, Solomon Sauls, Frederick Myburgh and Preston Julies.

The alleged syndicate operated in Gansbaai, Hermanus, Hawston, Bredasdorp, Stanford, Pearly Beach and Kuilsriver.

The multi-disciplinary team, led by the Hawks, arrested the group following investigations.

“The DAFF officials allegedly colluded with abalone poachers by illegally selling back the seized abalone and escorting illegal abalone shipment,” the Hawks said.

The case against all suspects was remanded to 14 March 2018 for the bail application, suspects remain in custody and more arrests are imminent as the investigation continues.

Meanwhile, a 57-year-old suspect appeared before Parys Magistrate’s Court on Thursday after he was arrested in a joint operation by the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation Unit and Tactical Support Unit for extortion and impersonating a police officer on Tuesday.

The suspect allegedly approached a well-known businessman and the Executive Mayor of Parys, alleging that he had been instructed by the Acting National Head of the Hawks Lieutenant General Yolisa Matakata and her team to launch an investigation of dealing in narcotics, and firearms against the said businessman, the Mayor and Secretary General of ANC Ace Magashule.

The suspect demanded R50 000, bribe, in exchange for stalling the said investigation. He was arrested following an entrapment operation after receiving the said cash. – SAnews.gov.za

Source: South Africa News Agency

The South Africa Social Security Agency (SASSA) and the South African Post Office (SAPO) have announced their readiness to commence the payment of social grants to more than 5.7 million social grant beneficiaries from 1 April 2018.

“We are pleased to announce a significant state of readiness for SAPO to commence payments of social grants and assure South Africans that social grants will be paid from 1 April 2018,” Acting SASSA CEO Pearl Bhengu said on Thursday.

Bhengu said SASSA has implemented a pilot project that began in January through direct payments into commercial bank accounts – and this has gone well so far.

SASSA has made direct payments to more than 2.3 million beneficiaries for the month of March 2018 and this number will be increased further in April 2018.

Testing for direct payments to beneficiaries, who receive money through the SASSA payment card, was done for 100 000 beneficiaries for the March 2018 payment period, Bhengu said.

“In April, a total of 5.7 million beneficiaries transacting through the SASSA Payment Card will be paid directly by SASSA without the assistance of Cash Paymaster Services (CPS). In essence, by 1 April 2018, SASSA would have paid approximately 7.7 million of the 10.7 million beneficiaries directly,” Bhengu said.

SASSA also intends depositing money into the cards of beneficiaries who receive their social grants in cash from pay points. 

Bhengu said the only support that will be required for these approximately 2.8 million beneficiaries is the distribution of cash at the pay points.

“All the above transfers will be made directly from SASSA’s own PMG account, which operates within the SA Reserve Bank environment.”

Bank accounts opened for beneficiaries

In a joint media briefing with SAPO CEO Mark Barnes, Bhengu assured that payments will be made without major interruption.

“SAPO is ready to open accounts for SASSA grants beneficiaries from 3 April 2018. The testing of the  bulk  account  opening  process,  with  a  sample  of  1 000  existing SASSA beneficiaries’ data, was seamlessly concluded in February 2018,” Barnes said.

The special disbursement account has the following features:

No deductions; free cash withdrawals; one free balance enquiry per month; one free mini-statement per month; free full statement covering up to a maximum of three months on demand and a free first replacement card.

Given the participation of Postbank in the payment system, Barnes said an increasing number of beneficiaries have also already opened Postbank accounts between January and February 2018, exercising one of the key choice options of the hybrid model.

“Some of these beneficiaries have already received their March social grants via Postbank,” he said.

Post office gets more responsibilities in handling payments

SASSA and SAPO also indicated that they are starting to phase in a process where, if a current SASSA pay-point is within 5km of a Post Office branch and the post office branch meets the minimum norms and standards, then the post office will take over the cash payments of that pay point.

In the past, SASSA relied on the services of CPS to pay 10.7 million beneficiaries through cash payments, direct deposits and electronic payments.  However, the contract was declared invalid in 2014, but the Constitutional Court in 2017 extended it to ensure grants continue being paid. 

The extension expires at the end of March when the Post Office is meant to take over payments. 

SASSA has asked for a further extension of this contract for an extra six months because the Post Office would be unable to take over cash payment services of social grants at the moment to about 2.8 million people – a service currently provided by CPS.

“The 2.8 million social grant beneficiaries are paid in cash at SASSA pay points on their normal individual payment dates. It is for the actual distribution of cash where SASSA still requires support,” said Bhengu, adding that it was for this reason they brought a limited application to the Constitutional Court.

Bhengu said SASSA is in the process of appointing a cash payments service provider, who will distribute social grants using the new SASSA-SAPO card at all pay points across the country.

Contingency plans for payments

SASSA, through National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank, is also in talks with commercial banks for the establishment of a low-cost account for social grants beneficiaries who receive their money directly into their personal bank accounts.

Furthermore, SASSA is currently engaging 27 accredited cooperative financial institutions that may be used in the future to pay social grants.

Bhengu said should the Constitutional Court decline their proposal for a further extension of the contract with CPS, the agency has a contingency plan in place involving the SA Reserve Bank (SARB). 

SASSA has an account with the SARB and will use the account to make cash transfers to beneficiaries.

SASSA and SAPO believe that their partnership will enable the development of an integrated grant payment system. 

This will be a significant milestone on the roadmap of in-sourcing the grant payment function in the near future. The integrated payment system will be convenient, easy to use and accessible to all social grant beneficiaries. It will also go a long way towards reducing fraud and corruption associated with the payment of social grants

Social grant beneficiaries can currently choose between three methods of payment: cash payment, merchant or supermarkets and through personal bank accounts. 

Beneficiaries, who already receive social grants through the banks, are not required to open new accounts.

Beneficiaries who prefer their grants paid directly into their bank accounts should complete a Request for Bank Payment form available on www.sassa.gov.za, any SAPO outlet or Sassa office.

All SASSA cards still functional

The agency has reiterated that all SASSA cards will continue to work.

“Beneficiaries using the old SASSA card may continue to do so until 30 September 2018. We will soon introduce the new SASSA cards via the Post Office and beneficiaries will be informed about the process to be followed,” said Bhengu.

The new card will be progressively introduced over the period from April to 30 September 2018, when it is expected that the current SASSA card will no longer be in circulation at all.

In the meantime, Bhengu urged beneficiaries to ignore anybody offering them any alternative card.  For clarity on this matter, beneficiaries may contact SASSA on 0800 60 10 11 or visit the nearest SASSA office. – SAnews.gov.za

Source: South Africa News Agency

The Public Service Commission’s highest decision making body, the Plenary, has committed to honour the year 2018, which has been marked as the year of Nelson Mandela, by boosting its anti-corruption efforts.

“The public service should epitomise good governance in his [Nelson Mandela] honour and build a positive future for South Africa. The PSC will intensify efforts to promote the constitutional values and principles across the public service,” said the PSC.

The PSC, which is the body mandated to oversee the administration of the public service, held its quarterly Plenary last week to deal with a number of strategic issues within its mandate.

Chief among its discussions was the need for the PSC to intensify its anti-corruption efforts by improving the management of the National Anti-Corruption Hotline and implementation of the Financial Disclosure Framework.

The PSC also wants to improve engagement with the relevant Ministers, MECs, municipal councils and other responsible parties to ensure that the National Anti-Corruption Forum (NACF) is empowered to exert influence to curb corruption through active participation by all role players.

Monitoring and reporting on financial misconduct cases is also an area the PSC wants to improve on.

Downsizing of cabinet 

The Plenary said it is in full support of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to trim down his Cabinet and would advise the Presidency accordingly.

“The structure and size of the State must be optimally suited to meet the needs of the people, as articulated by President Ramaphosa during his maiden State of the Nation Address. To this end, the PSC will within its constitutional mandate advise the Presidency in this process,” said the commission.

Stable leadership in the public service 

In addition to a slimmer cabinet, the PSC called on the President to ensure stability in the leadership echelon of the public service.

“The PSC will firstly engage with the Presidency and Department Public Service with regard to the implementation of the National Development Plan recommendations on the establishment of the Head of Administration.

“[We will] collaborate with the National School of Government, Presidency and Ministry for Public Service and Administration on the induction of Executive Authorities (EAs) and Heads of Department (HoDs) using the guide on induction of EAs and HoDs that the PSC has produced,” the Commission said. – SAnews.gov.za

Source: South Africa News Agency

Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa has encouraged the youth to pursue careers that will enable them to participate meaningfully in the wildlife economy.

“I call on young people to pursue careers in the fields of, among others, nature conservation, veterinary services, ecotourism, taxidermy, animal husbandry, zoology, botany and … See more

Source: South Africa News Agency

Home Affairs Deputy Minister Fatima Chohan says the repositioning of Home Affairs within the security cluster allows the department to effectively contribute to crime fighting, among other services.

The Deputy Minister said this when Ministers in the Security Cluster fielded questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

She was responding to a follow-up question by ANC MP Buoang Mashile who had asked, what benefits could be derived from the department’s repositioning into the security cluster.

“The security of the state is premised on a few things. The first is to secure borders and with the soon to be passed Border Management Authority, this aspect will certainly be given a boost.

“In addition, the repositioning of the department in the security cluster has brought increased cross-sectional cooperation and alignment, particularly with regard to those sectors in the criminal justice area where there are major dependencies on Home Affairs services in relation to crime fighting, managing prisoner populations as well as repatriations for example.

“Clearly, these are natural benefits to be had with this kind of repositioning,” she said.

The Deputy Minister fielded questions after Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba could not attend the sitting of the House due to health reasons.

Addressing MPs on Wednesday, the Deputy Minister said the aim of the repositioning of Home Affairs was also to build a modern and secure department.

“Our first priority is to ensure that the identity and civic status of all South Africans are secured on the population register.

“The second priority is to manage international migrations securely and efficiently.

“Thirdly, we hope by these efforts in terms of our modernisation digitisation efforts to build a solid platform to enable the state to improve its efficiencies and derive maximum benefits from scarce resources. The second part of the question – once the Boarder Management Bill is passed the department will in addition have a mandate of the security and necessarily this is a work in progress.” – SAnews.gov.za

Source: South Africa News Agency

The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training has committed to enhance its oversight responsibility on the University of Zululand’s KwaDlangezwa campus in eMpangeni, until the institution functions normally.

The committed made the commitment following a meeting with the Council for Higher Education (CHE) on matters regarding the university.

During a meeting held on Wednesday, the CHE briefed the committee on the university’s governance challenges, including issues pertaining to the Vice Chancellor, the university council, and the sale of degrees.

The CHE told the committee that something must be done at a higher level so students are not denied education, and that there had to be a forensic investigation to address things that the CHE lacked capacity to deal with.

Chairperson of the portfolio committee, Connie September, said all role players must move with speed on the matter, adding that the department must intervene immediately.

“We cannot have a situation where UniZulu is spiralling downwards. When we come back for the next term, we will decide how we move forward with regard to the institution,” September said.

She said the Human Right Commission (HRC) had also conducted an investigation into the sector, and that the committee will consider inviting HRC to get a briefing on its findings.

Last week Thursday, classes were suspended at the university during a violent protest over meal allowances.

According to a police report, a building and two police vehicles were torched during the protest. Thirty-two students were arrested.

Progress made at Fort Hare University

Meanwhile, September voiced satisfaction with the progress made at the University of Fort Hare since the oversight visit by the committee to that institution.

However, the committee said it was concerned about the reported mismanagement of finances at the Tshwane College. The committee said it fully supports calls for this to be investigated.

September emphasised that where transgressions have occurred, the law enforcement agencies must deal get involved.

“Students’ preoccupation should be learning and not parties. There are still issues with student accommodation at many institutions, but we are excited with the progress. But also the reported thievery at some institutions should be dealt with,” she said. – SAnews.gov.za

Source: South Africa News Agency

Police Minister General Bheki Cele says processes are already underway to remove 57 police officers from the system, who have been found to have criminal records or cases against them.

The Minister said this when the security cluster replied to oral questions at the National Assembly on Wednesday.

DA MP Zakhele Mbele had asked the SA Police Service how 57 police officers with criminal records were found to be working in a department that deals with vulnerable victims of assault and sexual abuse and what corrective measures were being taken.

The Minister said in some instances, police officers get criminal convictions while they are already in the system.

“I fully agree and concur with you that there are 57 people that are in the South African Police Service having criminal records. Specifically, 30 of them are in the environment that you are talking about, which is a very sensitive environment.

“They should not be there to deal especially with children and they should not be there to deal with abused … and mostly female [victims] who have been assaulted, who have been violated, some of them by their own partners.

“The answer on that is that we have already put [processes in motion] to deal with those people with the required speed not just in the environment that you are talking about, but in the entire system.

“Already, the instruction has been issued that those people, by law, are not supposed to be there. Somebody must move quick and fast and that would be in the name of the National Police Commissioner of the South African Police Service to see that we implement that they vacate the system and you put the people that we trust to work with the communities,” he said.

How SAPS screens prospective officers?

The Minister said, meanwhile, that in terms of regulation 11 (1) (a) … of the South African Police Service regulations, a person who applies to be appointed as a member of the SA Police Service must have no previous criminal convictions and such person shall allow his or her fingerprints to be taken.

He said that all prospective persons to be employed by the South African Police Services are subjected to a fingerprint screening process, which is done by the local criminal record centre to establish whether any of the persons have any criminal convictions or criminal cases pending.

“In addition to the fingerprint screening process, a [desktop] computer verification of relevant criminal profile systems are conducted by crime intelligence to ensure that no persons with criminal convictions or criminal cases pending are employed in the service.” – SAnews.gov.za