The Fetakgomo-Tubatse Local Municipality in Limpopo has rejected allegations that Executive Mayor Eddie Maila travels in official vehicles worth more than the amount allocated for municipal leaders. This week, opposition councillor Seun Mogotji, from the Bolsheviks Party SA in the Sekhukhune area, approached the Hawks unit, asking them to investigate the mayor for contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act. Mogotji accused Maila of cruising around in two BMW vehicles, each worth more than the R700 000 budget allocated to…

Four initiates died after being kicked around by their caregivers and ordered to stand naked on a cold and snowy morning in Mpumalanga last month.  According to an investigative report compiled for the provincial Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) and seen by African Times, the initiates were kicked until “some of them fainted”, but it is not clear why they were subjected to such a “terrible punishment”.  The incident happened at an initiation school on Goedehoop Farm…

South Africa’s third biggest political party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), has formally written to the BRICS heads of state, urging them to boycott the upcoming summit in the country later this month.  The EFF’s stance on the boycott follows South Africa’s failure to guarantee protection for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was initially expected to attend the summit in Johannesburg physically but cancelled last month.  The summit is a meeting between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa on…

THE Mahikeng High Court has declared unlawful and set aside a R44m tender awarded by the North West Department of Public Works and Roads for constructing a road at Mmakaunyane village outside Tshwane.  African Times reported last month that the department’s adjudication committee, led by Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Peter Modika, had manipulated tender processes to favour MM Industries, which did not meet the criteria.  The controversial contract signed by the head of the department, Moss Kgantsi, in January this…

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has dismissed concerns that he has created an international storm by chanting “Killer the Boer, Kill the Farmer” at the party’s 10th-anniversary celebration at FNB Stadium in Soweto over the weekend, saying the courts have exonerated him. The chant grabbed headlines globally, prompting Twitter owner Elon Musk to allege that the EFF was calling for a genocide of white people while President Cyril Ramaphosa kept quiet. Moreover, Malema attacked the Democratic Alliance federal…

Burkina Faso Interim President, Captain Ibrahim Traore, took the Russia-Africa Summit by storm when he denounced neocolonialism and implored fellow African leaders to stop defending Western puppets.  He also called on the African Union to stop condemning Africans who decide to fight against their “own puppet regimes of the West”.  Traore, 35, seized power in a military coup in September last year – the second in eight months – which toppled another coup leader Paul-Henry Sandaogo Daniba.  He cited deepening…

Limpopo’s ANC provincial executive committee (PEC) members have congratulated their comrade, Mamedupi Teffo, for being elected provincial chairperson of the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL). The ANCWL’s elective conference was held in Polokwane on Sunday, where the top five leadership was elected, together with additional members of the executive structure. The elected top five include Teffo as chairperson, Minah Bahula as deputy chairperson, Tebogo Mamorobela as secretary, Sarah Monyamane as deputy secretary, and Christina Mohale as treasurer. A list of 20…

Police in Mpumalanga say they cannot ascertain whether the woman who nearly burned to death inside a truck set alight along the N2 toll road between Piet Retief and Ermelo could have been a sex worker. According to provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala, the victim allegedly slept in one of the four trucks attacked in the area last week. “It is alleged that people emerged from the grass and approached the trucks with firearms and instructed the drivers to…

Although Mandela Month has come and gone, Brand South Africa believes there is a need to keep showing kindness and helping communities to plant their own food. In line with this call, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and its global partners have championed a national effort to capacitate as many home-based and community food gardens as possible. The effort includes the campaign for citizens to plant one million trees, 60% of which will be fruit trees. “This year, the Nelson Mandela Foundation…

South Africa, Russia Business Leaders Explore Ways to Boost Economic Ties    TV BRICS Payment systems, mutual settlement, seaport logistics and the energy crisis were among the issues discussed by business leaders and representatives from South Africa and Russia on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg on Friday.  Organized by the Russia-Africa Business Council and hosted by the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the business dialogue between Russia and South Africa was dedicated to developing long-term…