Author: staff

(Archive photo) The DA makes an urgent appeal to Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa and parliament to approve the party’s proposed amendment bill to the South African Police Service Act and immediately carry out lifestyle audits on senior members of the police. This follows after the latest national crime statistics once again exposed the extent of South Africa’s violent crime crisis. According to Geordin Hill-Lewis, the DA leader, after eight years under Ramaphosa, the ANC government has still not succeeded in bringing the country’s violent crime under control. “The latest crime statistics show that 5,181 people were murdered in just three months.…

(Photo: Isabel Venter / Maroela Media). In the murder trial of Stephan Pretorius, testimony from his minor daughter was heard this week about the day he allegedly set his estranged wife on fire in front of the child. She was 13 years old when she witnessed the alleged incident. The court agreed that the court session during which the girl gave evidence, although it was heard in camera with the help of an intermediary, can be attended by the media. The court also ordered that her name may not be published. In her testimony, the girl told of the moments…

(Photo: Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae/ Facebook) The transparency and credibility of a high-profile corruption investigation against MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae, the Free State prime minister, hangs in the balance after a sudden and strange shakeup in the Hawks’ investigative team. Serious questions are being asked after it came to light that a senior member of the Falcons was removed from this sensitive matter and simply replaced with a junior officer. Due to these changes, the FF Plus has already urgently addressed official questions to Firoz Cachalia, the Acting Minister of Police. Senior member himself under the magnifying glass According to media reports, the relevant…

(Archive photo: Unsplash) The Department of Water and Sanitation’s plans for race-based water reservation and greater curtailment powers are not going to remove the real structural barriers that limit water access. This is what AfriForum says after the department’s recent presentation on Tuesday to the parliamentary portfolio committee on water and sanitation regarding the proposed national water amendment act of 2026. Moreover, this is despite the fact that serious concerns that were already raised during public participation in the 2023 draft bill have still not been resolved. According to AfriForum, it appears that the department is determined to proceed with…

The countryside undoubtedly remains the heartbeat of South African agriculture, and this year the popular Vivo Farmers’ Marketing Day returns to prove exactly that. (Photo: Christine Oelofse/Maroela Media) The countryside undoubtedly remains the heartbeat of South African agriculture, and this year the popular Vivo Farmers’ Marketing Day returns to prove exactly that. With the Vivo Farmers’ Marketing Day committee firmly at the helm of affairs, the big focus this year is to expand this prestigious event even further. The day serves as the ideal platform where farmers, business people and local communities can come together to share fresh ideas, build…

The Western Cape agricultural sector is reeling after a destructive weather system left a trail of destruction and billions of rands worth of damage across the province’s agricultural areas. (Photo: WWF South Africa/X) The Western Cape agricultural sector is reeling after a destructive weather system left a trail of destruction and billions of rands worth of damage across the province’s agricultural areas. This not only has major economic consequences, but has also turned into a serious human rights crisis. In the Cape Winelands district alone, more than 2,200 people, mainly farm workers and their families, were left homeless after rivers…

The Department of Health has been informed that two different strains of the poliovirus have been detected in Cape Town sewage. (Photo: Gemini)The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (Nios) has informed the Department of Health that two different strains of the poliovirus have been detected in Cape Town’s sewage water.However, the department responded quickly and stressed that there was no reason to panic, as no cases of polio had been confirmed in humans.Foster Mohale, spokesperson for the national department of health, says the detection of the two strains, specifically known as VDPV3 and nOPV2-L, was made during routine tests at…

Provincial gov’t in Ituri province, the epicentre of the outbreak, has banned public gatherings to stop the spread of the virus.The World Health Organization (WHO) has upgraded the public health risk of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from high to “very high” as the deadly outbreak continues to spread.WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced on Friday that they were revising their risk assessment for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, to “very high at the national level, high at the regional level, and low at global level.”Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listTedros also said…

Wayne Pietersen (47), a traditional San and Khoi leader and councilor of the Kouga local municipality. (Photo: Justice, Crime Prevention and Security/X) Wayne Pietersen (47), a traditional San and Khoi leader and council member of the Kouga local municipality, was found guilty in the Humansdorp Magistrate’s Court on Friday on charges of assault and assault with intent to seriously injure. The case relates to an incident on 29 June last year in Papiesfontein in the Sarah Baartman district, during which two cyclists were confronted and injured in a public nature reserve. According to Luxolo Tyali, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting…

The animal, believed to be between 50 and 70 years old, was found chained to the ground without food or water. (Photo: Provided) A manhunt for an illegal shebeen in Klerksdorp resulted in an unexpected rescue attempt on Thursday afternoon when the police came across a badly abused mountain tortoise. The animal, believed to be between 50 and 70 years old, was found chained to the ground without food or water. Capt. Elize van Schalkwyk, commander of the Klerksdorp unit for firearms, liquor and second-hand goods (FLASH), visited the premises in Wilkenstraat after following up on information about illegal liquor…