• South Africa: Wife of Former Energy Utility Chief Boosted His Pension Payout

    Former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe's marriage to Arethur Moagi in December 2016 boosted his pension payout, according to Sibusiso Luthuli, CEO of the Eskom Pension and Provident Fund (EPPF). Luthuli was briefing Parliament's public enterprises committee as part of its state capture inquiry. According to Luthuli, Eskom asked the EPPF in August 2016 to calculate Molefe's pension if they applied two rules where Eskom bought 13 additional years of service for Molefe and waived certain penalties once Molefe turned 50. They calculated that Molefe, who turned 50 in January 2017, would have received a R25.9m pension payout. However, this was a theoretical calculation and made certain assumptions, including

  • Dlamini-Zuma 'unaware' of letter linking her to Guptas

    African National Congress presidential hopeful and former African Union (AU) Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, on Friday denied reports linking her to the controversial Gupta family. "For the record, Dr. Dlamini Zuma has no links with any of the Gupta associated businesses except for the finances received for the South African Person of the Year Award which she received, like many other prominent South Africans," a statement sent on her behalf read. "Dr. Dlamini Zuma wishes to reiterate her long-standing position on the matter of illicit financial flows, which she spearheaded during her term of office at the African Union Commission, which amongst others resulted in the report on illicit financial flows as tabled by [former president] Thabo Mbeki.

  • Donald Trump Has Linked A Rise In UK Crime With Islamic Terror, Which Statisticians Have Not

    Official British statisticians said the rise was due to both an increase in crime and an improved logging of incidents by the police. "While improvements made by police forces in recording crime are still a factor in the increase, we judge that there have been genuine increases in crime, particularly in some of the low-incidence but more harmful categories," a spokesperson for the ONS said, prior to Trump's tweet. The explanation offers by British statisticians made no reference to the impact of Islamic extremism. BuzzFeed News has contacted the National Statistics Authority and the Home Office for comment. It is unclear how the President encountered the crime figures, released by the UK's Office

  • Mantashe: How can ANC allow succession to be free-for-all?

    Durban - ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe on Thursday said the African National Congress, as a 105 year-old movement, could not afford to gamble with leadership and should manage succession and explain why a sitting deputy should not succeed the president. Mantashe was addressing close to a thousand ANC supporters at a cadres' forum in Gamalakhe, Port Shepstone, in the Lower South Coast region of the ANC, where he also said the donning of T-shirts showcasing support to the party’s presidential race candidates tampered with loyalty to the party. He said he had been vilified for questioning why the party’s sitting deputy should not ascend to the presidency in a smooth handing over of the baton.

  • Zimbabwe: Lake Harvest Plead With Government for Assistance

    Lake Harvest, the largest Tilapia farmer in Africa, has pleaded with the government of Zimbabwe to put in place an aquaculture policy which matches neighboring countries to enhance competitiveness. James de La Farge, Lake Harvest Chief Executive Officer, made the clarion call while presenting at the ZimTrade Exporters Conference in Harare on Thursday where he said the sector and company in particular, needs assistance to survive, develop and regain exports markets which it has lost over the years. The company which has been operational for nearly 20 years has seen its exports to European markets fall from 90% to 50% and believes the fishing industry in Zimbabwe is slowly dying due to lack of

  • Jerome Booysen apparently targeted in hospital

    Suspected Cape Town gang boss Jerome “Donkie” Booysen appears to have been the target of another attack on Thursday night‚ sources said. An unknown number of assailants were reportedly thwarted by family members as they tried to reach Booysen‚ who was admitted to hospital on Wednesday after an attempt on his life at Cape Town International Airport. 10 things you should know about airport shooting target Jerome Booysen  One of the gunmen at the hospital was disguised as a woman and another wore an overall. Sources said Booysen was shot four times on Wednesday. A bystander was also injured. The shooting on Thursday evening would be the fourth attempt on Booysen’s life this year alone. Sources believe

  • Reporter’s Parliamentary Notebook: ‘Mr Clean’ Ramaphosa battles stinging State Capture comments

    There were swathes of empty seats on the ANC parliamentary benches during Thursday’s questions to Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa in the National Assembly, although an alert-looking Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba was present. Not so the opposition benches, which fired off politically barbed questions on State Capture and government’s lacklustre track record in taking action beyond making pretty statements. “We have a president the ANC elected with 783 charges, you were silent then. The Scorpions have been captured, you were silent then… Your silence has aided and abetted the corruption in this country. This is a face-saving exercise now,” said IFP MP Mkhuleko Hlengwa. “Why should we believe