Day: April 26, 2023

Police have arrested a 50-year-old woman and her 39-year-old partner in connection with the murders of two children, Nqobile Zulu and Tshiamo Rabanye, in Soweto.

Their mutilated bodies were found last Thursday morning, after they went missing on the Wednesday night.

“The duo has since been charged with murder. They will appear before the Protea Magistrates Court on Friday, 28 April 2023,” Police Ministry Spokesperson Lirandzu Themba said on Wednesday.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Presidency has moved to clarify that South Africa remains a signatory to the Rome Statute and a participant in the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“This clarification follows an error in a comment made during a media briefing held by the governing African National Congress (ANC) on South Africa’s status with regard to the ICC. Regrettably, the President erroneously affirmed a similar position during a media session today.

“South Africa remains a signatory to the ICC in line with a resolution of the 55th National Conference of the ANC – held in December 2022 – to rescind an earlier decision to withdraw from the ICC,” said the President’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya.

Magwenya explained that the ruling party’s 2022 decision was reaffirmed earlier this week at the party’s National Executive Committee meeting in which the NEC reflected on “the potential withdrawal from the ICC as an option that would arise as a measure of last resort in the absence of legal options that would result in fairness and consistency in the administration of international law”.

“In remaining a signatory to the Rome Statute, South Africa is guided by the importance of strengthening institutions of global governance. Accordingly, South Africa will work to invigorate the Malabo protocol that would establish a continental criminal court that would complement the ICC as a court of last resort.

“Furthermore, South Africa is considering a legislative amendment that would domesticate the Rome statute so that it reflects all the articles of the Rome Statute. This includes provision of article 98 of the statute that requires a waiver of immunities for persons charged by the ICC from third party countries where there is no referral by the United Nations Security Council.

“The manner in which the UK domesticated the Rome Statute to incorporate the provisions of article 98 has been recommended as a guideline case study,” Magwenya said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa is driving reforms in the electricity sector to enable private investment in electricity generation and accelerate the procurement of new generation capacity, including solar, wind, gas and battery storage.

“We are implementing the national Energy Action Plan to increase the current supply of energy and to achieve energy security in the long-term,” President Ramaphosa said.

Speaking at the South Africa–Finland Roundtable Business Forum held in Menlyn, east of Pretoria, on Tuesday, President Ramaphosa said South Africa is in the grip of an energy crisis.

The Business Forum was attended by government representatives and business leaders from the two countries.

“Even as we work to improve the performance and efficiency of our existing coal-fired power stations to address energy shortages, we remain committed to a just energy transition, and to our target of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

“A just transition to a low carbon, climate-resilient, greener economy forms part of South Africa’s global climate change commitments. We believe that there is alignment between our objectives and Finland’s goals,” President Ramaphosa said.

On the economic front, President Ramaphosa said South Africa is ready for a partnership with Finnish companies willing to do business in South Africa.

“Our team at InvestSA would be very keen to have discussions with yourselves to see how we can support Finnish companies with projects in South Africa to enable greater levels of funding for Finnfund. South Africa’s value proposition is the diversity and sophistication of our economy.

“We have also noted, in terms of Finland’s Africa strategy, that at least 50% of the value of Finnfund’s new funding decision is geared towards investments in Africa,” President Ramaphosa said.

President Ramaphosa said Finland intends to double trade with Africa.

“Furthermore, [Finland is] committed to increasing investments from Finnish companies into Africa between 2020 and 2030.

“Finnish companies have a presence in South Africa in the packaging, industrial cranes, metals, digitisation, green finance, energy, fleet management and mining equipment sectors, amongst others.

“Finnish business can also support Africa’s economic integration and intra-African trade,” the President said.

Finland is an important partner to South Africa and despite its small population and territory, it is amongst the most developed countries in the world and provides valuable trade, investment and development cooperation to South Africa.

Finland is also a strong international partner in areas of various global issues such as strengthening multilateralism, international law, peacebuilding and mediation, the advancement of gender and human rights as well as around issues of renewable energy.

Since 2010, Finland has been supportive of South Africa’s national priorities and continues to be a reliable partner in various sectors, including maritime, science and technology, ICT and digitalisation, environment, energy, education, skills development, agriculture and water.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Investigations conducted by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has revealed that the fish that died on 11 April at the Hartbeespoort Dam, was due to extremely low oxygen levels in the dam.

This comes after thousands of dead fish among the hyacinth were discovered closer to the shore by the Ifafi Aquatic Club and the Schoemansville Oewer Club members.

The department’s probe involved taking samples at four different sites of the dam. These include the dam edge near the overgrown hyacinth, 60 metres away from the edges, Ifafi Aquatic Club jetty and near the Ifafi Aquatic Club.

The results, the department said, revealed that excessive algal growth caused by high nutrients, that is the phosphorus and nitrogen content levels in the water, led to oxygen depletion and fish mortality.

“The occurrence of low oxygen concentration in water is typical in sewage-contaminated systems with high organic matter and could not be attributed to high water temperatures given the average temperature of 22 degrees Celsius at the time of sampling.”

To address the hyacinth and algal growth at the dam, the DWS has recently appointed Magalies Water for three years to develop and implement a programme that will deal with the invasive plant and the algae that are infesting the dam.

“The entity is expected to develop a resource management and remediation plan to address the poor water quality, minimise and control the plant and algal growth in the dam and the upstream catchment, which lead to its pollution and compromises water quality and use of the dam,” the department explained.

The team has also been tasked to develop a short-term intervention plan to remove the hyacinth, review the algal management strategy and develop a catchment management plan to address the receiving of water into the dam from the upper catchment.

“The plan will also involve the repurposing and readapting of the Metsi a Me programme to focus on the upper catchment which is contributing to the eutrophication of the dam.”

The programme is expected to start by mid-May and will incorporate the Biological Control Programme managed by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE).

Source: South African Government News Agency