The Public Protector Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka has scolded KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC Sipho Hlomuka for approving the irregular appointment of an underqualified ANC cadre as a government official in 2020. This happened during his Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC tenure. Gcaleka also instructed KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli to act against Hlomuka for engineering Mncedisi Joeman Makuyi’s irregular appointment as Deputy Director for Fire and Rescue Services in June 2020. At the time, Makuyi was a prominent ANC member in…

The national chairperson of ActionSA, Micheal Beaumont has written to the Public Protector asking her office to probe its former senior member in Newcastle local municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal for possible abuse of power. Beaumont’s request came after almost a week the Herman Mashaba led party fired Faizel Cassim as its member and chief whip in the municipality. The party claimed that Cassim did not declare a conflict of interest as the owner of Newcastle Industrial Launders CC (NIL), a…

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has likened the incident in which Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s security detail assaulted motorists on the N1 highway in Johannesburg to the actions of parliamentary police officers who have unleashed violence on opposition members in the past. Malema was speaking during a media briefing held at Uncle Tom’s Hall in Soweto earlier today. He was speaking in reference to the assault that took place on the N1 over the weekend, where motorists who…

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is taking on review Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka’s Phala Phala report, which it labelled a “white-wash” and “pro-Ramaphosa public relations exercise” aimed at securing the public protector’s job.  Accusing Gcaleka of muddying the waters and misinterpreting relevant laws in her final report, DA leader John Steenhuisen said the acting public protector sought to project Ramaphosa as an “innocent bystander” who knew nothing by the inner workings of his administration and the presidential protection unit (PPU).…

In what Public Protector advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane has labelled the biggest scandal to hit South African democracy, the suspended Chapter 9 institution leader blamed the death of former Minister of Energy Tina Joemat-Pettersson on “state capture.” Mkhwebane was speaking during her much-anticipated media briefing on allegations that Section 194 chairperson Richard Dyantyi and ANC parliamentary Chief Whip Penny Majodina solicited bribes to make the inquiry go her way. She said the solicitations of the bribes were communicated to her husband,…