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Making headlines: Minister Simelane will meet with Ramaphosa on VBS matter; Police Minister Mchunu will explore new tech in China to improve Saps’ capacity; And, Kenya suffers second major blackout in week, some power back

Minister Simelane will meet with Ramaphosa on VBS matter

Following Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Thembi Simelane’s appearance at the Justice Portfolio Committee meeting today, her department revealed that she is scheduled to meet with President Cyril Ramaphosa, relating to her alleged involvement with a VBS Mutual Bank loan.

The date of the meeting was not confirmed.

It is alleged that that while serving as the mayor of Polokwane in 2016, Simelane took a loan of R575 600 from Gundo Wealth Solutions, a company that brokered “unlawful” investments of R349-million into VBS Bank on behalf of the Polokwane municipality, amongst others.

Ramaphosa has previously requested a detailed report and briefing from her on the matter.

Simelane appeared before the Portfolio Committee to answer questions on the matter, where she denied any allegations of wrongdoing and said is committed to cooperating fully with all inquiries.

She also pointed out that despite questions surrounding conflicts of interest, she is not involved in prosecutorial decisions made by the National Prosecuting Authority.

Police Minister Mchunu will explore new tech in China to improve Saps’ capacity

In his quest to ensure public safety in South Africa and to strength cooperation in tackling transnational crime and cybercrime, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu is heading to China to attend the Global Public Security Cooperation Forum and host a bilateral meeting with Chinese Minister of Public Safety Wang Xiaohong.

In a statement issued today, the Police Ministry said Mchunu, and other international leaders, will be in China to attend the forum between September 8 and 11.

The Minister will attend with a delegation from the South African Police Service, which will take part in various sub-forums relating to public security governance, allowing the delegation to share experiences with and learn from its international colleagues.

Mchunu will also attend the Public Safety and Security Technology Expo, which will highlight the latest technology in public safety.

The Police Ministry said this visit will allow the Minister to explore new technologies and innovations that could enhance the Saps' capacity to ensure public safety in South Africa.

And, Kenya suffers second major blackout in week, some power back

Kenya suffered its second major blackout in a week today, but electricity was restored in some parts after a few hours, national distributor Kenya Power said.

The company did not give reasons for the outage, which affected regions around East Africa's biggest economy and followed another hours-long blackout last Friday.

Several hours after confirming the outage, Kenya Power said power had been restored to affected parts of the North Rift, Central Rift, Western, Nairobi and Mount Kenya areas.

Kenya has suffered a series of blackouts in the last year, including one that plunged Nairobi's main airport into darkness.

Authorities have not explained the causes.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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