Daily news update: ConCourt application to postpone polls | Bolt stabbing case | ActionSA leaders survive hijacking

1 week ago

News today includes Ace Magashule’s party, the African Congress for Transformation (ACT), has asked the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) to consider postponing the upcoming elections only as a last resort.

Meanwhile, the victims of the alleged attack that took place in Cape Town involving a Bolt driver have opened a criminal case.

Furthermore, Action SA Gauteng premier candidate Funzi Ngobeni and chairperson of the youth forum Hluphi Gafane have been found safe after a four-hour hijacking ordeal in Olievenhoutbosch on Tuesday evening.

News Today: 9 May 2024

The weather service has warned of extremely high fire danger in parts of the Northern Cape and Eastern Cape but otherwise it will be fine and warm across the country. – full weather forecast here.

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Magashule’s ACT wants IEC to give it ‘an hour or two’ to submit candidates list rather than postponing elections

Ace Magashule’s party, the African Congress for Transformation (ACT), has asked the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) to consider postponing the upcoming elections only as a last resort.

On Wednesday, the ConCourt heard the leave to appeal applications of the ACT, the Labour Party and the Afrikan Alliance of Social Democrats (AASD).

The parties are challenging the Electoral Court’s 15 April ruling that refused to extend the deadline for them to submit their parliamentary candidate lists ahead of the upcoming national and provincial elections.

CONTINUE READING: Magashule’s ACT wants IEC to give it ‘an hour or two’ to submit candidates list rather than postponing elections

DA’s Cameron asks why Mashatile’s VIP protectors still employed as witness gives details of assault

DA parliamentary candidate Ian Cameron has criticised the South African Police Services (Saps) for “dragging disciplinary” proceedings against eight VIP protection officers who assaulted two off duty soldiers on the side of the N1 highway last year.

The eight bodyguards were part of Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s security detail.

DA Shadow MP Andrew Whitfield was alongside Cameron at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court where the bodyguards appeared.

CONTINUE READING: DA’s Cameron asks why Mashatile’s VIP protectors still employed as witness gives details of assault

Bolt alleged stabbing victims open criminal case against driver

The victims of the alleged attack that took place in Cape Town involving a Bolt driver have opened a criminal case.

“The complainants reported an assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm (GBH) case at the Table View SAPS on Tuesday,” Western Cape South African Police Service Media Liaison Officer Captain F.C. Van Wyk told The Citizen.

The alleged attack took place in Table View on Saturday after the driver in question refused to drop off the riders at their requested location.

CONTINUE READING: Bolt alleged stabbing victims open criminal case against driver

Post-election social unrest looms over SA – economist

The nation faces a heightened risk of social unrest following this month’s election due to its status as one of the world’s most unequal societies, plagued by high unemployment, inequality, and crime.

The violent unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in 2021, sparked by political developments and desperate socio-economic conditions, was a stark reminder that a rapid deterioration in the security environment remains an ever-present risk, Louw Nel, senior political analyst at Oxford Economics Africa, writes in the first research briefing for the elections.

The first briefing, titled the ANC & friends election scenario, sets out the first of four scenarios for South Africa’s general election. In this scenario, the ANC wins between 46% and 49% of the vote share at national level, losing its outright majority for the first time since 1994.

CONTINUE READING: Post-election social unrest looms over SA – economist

‘Unharmed but shaken’ – ActionSA leaders Funzi Ngobeni, Hluphi Gafane survive hijacking ordeal

Action SA Gauteng premier candidate Funzi Ngobeni and chairperson of the youth forum Hluphi Gafane have been found safe after a four-hour hijacking ordeal in Olievenhoutbosch on Tuesday evening.

According to ActionSA, Ngobeni was taken by several armed men while visiting Gafane at her home.