July 12, 2024.

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Shomolekae.

Making headlines:

AfriForum wants NPA to prosecute Malema, Shivambu for VBS fraud

New water Minister assures of continuity in DWS

And, Intensifying Congo conflict puts 1-million children at risk of acute malnutrition

AfriForum wants NPA to prosecute Malema, Shivambu for VBS fraud

Civil rights organisation AfriForum said should the State fail to prosecute Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema and his deputy Floyd Shivambu, AfriForum will consider private prosecution as an alternative.

The organisation said today it had instructed its legal team to formulate charges of corruption, fraud and money laundering against Malema and Shivambu, adding that these charges will soon be lodged with the police.

This follows former VBS Mutual Bank board chairperson Tshifhiwa Matodzi’s revelation that the EFF received monthly donations and a so-called business loan of millions of rands from VBS since 2017 through a front company, Sgameka Projects.

He alleged that R5-million was originally paid, followed by monthly donations of R1-million and a R4-million loan.

AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel stated that Matodzi’s statement indicates that this money was paid to the EFF as a bribe but that especially Malema and Shivambu, in their personal capacity, benefitted from these transactions.

New water Minister assures of continuity in DWS

Newly appointed Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina has assured of the continuity of the various reforms and improvements initiated by her predecessor Senzo Mchunu, who is now Police Minister.

Majodina was appointed Water and Sanitation Minister on June 30 following the formation of South Africa’s seventh administration under the Government of National Unity.

Tabling the Department of Water and Sanitation’s Budget Vote on Friday, she said that many of the reforms that would be continued were mandated by the National Development Plan and the Presidency’s Operation Vulindlela.

In addition to this, the DWS is focusing on three key priorities over the next few years to ensure that the availability of water does not become a constraint to investment and economic growth, and that there is sufficient water to meet the needs of South Africa’s population.

Intensifying Congo conflict puts 1-million children at risk of acute malnutrition

More than one-million children are at risk from acute malnutrition in Democratic Republic of Congo as rising violence drives up needs among millions of displaced people, the World Health Organization said today.

The impact on civilians of the more than two-year conflict between Congolese forces and the Rwanda-backed M23 militia in eastern areas of the country is worsening, causing more people to flee with 2.7-million displaced in North Kivu alone.

Severe flooding and landslides as well as long-simmering conflicts affecting other parts of the country have worsened needs and around 25-million currently require humanitarian aid, according to the WHO.

The acute malnutrition is a result of widespread, increasing and also recurrent food insecurity in the areas that have seen conflict for years and decades now but where we now very recently see an escalation.

The U$2.6-billion funding plan for Congo is currently only 26% funded, UN data showed.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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