For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Halima Frost.

Making headlines: ActionSA demands urgent removal of Shamila Batohi; South Africa to ramp up vaccinations as foot-and-mouth disease spreads; And, Mpox not under control in Africa as Sierra Leone cases jump

ActionSA demands urgent removal of Shamila Batohi

ActionSA today said it will formally write to Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Mmamoloko Kubayi to demand that Advocate Shamila Batohi be removed as the National Director of Public Prosecutions.

ActionSA wants the removal initiated in terms of Section 12 of the National Prosecuting Authority Act.

The party has accused the NPA of becoming a “refuge for the politically connected”, alleging regular instances of avoided accountability, delayed justice and collapsed prosecutions.

This comes as a court withdrew charges against former Free State Premier Ace Magashule’s former personal assistant Moroadi Cholota in the asbestos corruption case, owing to her unlawful extradition.

ActionSA wants a full parliamentary inquiry into the NPA’s so-called “ongoing prosecutorial failures” and any evidence of political interference.

South Africa to ramp up vaccinations as foot-and-mouth disease spreads

South Africa is building up vaccine stocks and expanding inoculations to fight a worsening foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, the agriculture ministry said, as the country faces threats to beef supplies.

Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious, viral infection of cloven-hoofed animals that may also affect other species. Flare-ups have been reported over the past several months in five of South Africa's nine provinces, with KwaZulu-Natal being the worst affected.

This week, Karan Beef, which operates the country's largest feedlot and one of the world's biggest, reported an outbreak at its facility in Heidelberg, about 50 km southeast of Johannesburg. The quarantine imposed on the feedlot, which slaughters about 2 000 cattle daily, could impact beef supplies.

The government has ordered over 900 000 doses of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines with the first batch expected to arrive next week.

There are growing calls by some cattle producers to declare a "state of disaster" and protect the industry from financial losses. Invoking disaster law gives the government additional powers to intervene in a crisis.

And, Mpox not under control in Africa as Sierra Leone cases jump

Africa is set to record more mpox cases this year than it did in 2024, when an explosion of the virus prompted the declaration of an international health emergency.

More than 64 000 cases have been reported in the five months through May, nearing the 77 000 registered all of last year, said Ngashi Ngongo, a principal adviser at Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The situation is not yet under control” even as vaccines secured late last year are rolled out, Ngongo said.

While much of the spread of the disease that can also result in blindness and disfigurement is in Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa, concern is shifting to Sierra Leone, which accounted for 53% of new confirmed cases last week, driving the continent-wide increases seen since mid-April.

There are some key differences in the current surge in the West African nation compared with what was seen in Congo in 2024.

In Sierra Leone, almost 70% of the confirmed incidents are in men, and children make up less than 3%. That compares with people under the age of 15 accounting for the bulk of mpox cases and deaths last year.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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