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

Making headlines: Six candidates advance to interview stage for NPA top post; DA lays criminal charges against Zuma-Sambudla; And, general sworn in as Guinea-Bissau transitional president

Six candidates advance to interview stage for NPA top post

Six candidates are in the running to be South Africa’s next National Director of Public Prosecutions, including former National Prosecuting Authority Investigating Directorate head advocate Hermione Cronje.

The Advisory Panel handling the selection process, chaired by Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Mmamoloko Kubayi, met on Tuesday to finalise the screening of the nominated candidates, after receiving 32 applications.

The shortlisted candidates include Cronje, who is now a freelance international anti-corruption and asset recovery specialist; NPA Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions advocate Nicolette Astraid Bell; NPA investigating director advocate Andrea Johnson; Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime chairperson advocate Xolisile Jennifer Khanyile; NPA Western Cape deputy director of Public Prosecutions advocate Adrian Carl Mopp; and Johannesburg Society of Advocates, advocate Menzi Simelane.

The panel is considering December 10 to 11 for the interview process and is inviting comments from interested persons and institutions on the suitability or otherwise of the candidates.

DA lays criminal charges against Zuma-Sambudla

The Democratic Alliance today laid criminal charges against uMkhonto we Sizwe Party MP Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, for her alleged role in recruiting and trafficking South African men into the Russian war effort in Ukraine.

The charges include human trafficking, contraventions of South Africa’s anti-mercenary legislation and additional offences that the South African Police Service must now investigate.

DA spokesperson on Defence & Military Veterans Chris Hattingh said the charges came from new evidence received by the party, including about 100 WhatsApp messages from a group allegedly administered by Zuma-Sambudla.

He highlighted that of the 22 men who initially travelled, 19 remain in Russia — including 17 South Africans — now reportedly deployed in a “red zone” in North Donetsk as part of Russian forces.

And, general sworn in as Guinea-Bissau transitional president

General Horta Nta Na Man was sworn in as the transitional president of Guinea-Bissau today, an army statement said, one day after army officers announced they had deposed the country's president.

The officers, referring to themselves as "The High Military Command for the Restoration of Order", said in a televised statement yesterday that they had ousted President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, in the latest episode of unrest in the coup-prone country.

It came one day before provisional results had been expected to be announced in the race between Embalo and Fernando Dias, a 47-year-old political newcomer who had emerged as Embalo's top challenger to run the West African state, which is a hub for cocaine trafficking.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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