Former South African President Thabo Mbeki has vehemently denied allegations of interference in the prosecution of apartheid-era crimes in a recent report by News24. Mbeki has labeled the claims as “pure fabrication” and has challenged the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to disclose any executive instructions to halt the cases. He insists that during his time in office, there was no interference with the NPA’s work, emphasizing that investigations were halted by the NPA itself, not the government.
Mbeki has called for an NPA investigation and prosecution of Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)-referred cases. He has refuted the existence of backdoor amnesty and clarified a failed process initiated post-TRC, which the courts deemed in violation of the TRC Act. Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza’s recent report criticizing the NPA for its failure to prosecute apartheid-era crimes has prompted further scrutiny and demands for transparency.
In another development, the Ndimande brothers are set to face an extradition hearing in the AKA murder case. Siyabonga and Malusi Ndimande, arrested in Eswatini for the murders of rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and Tebello Motsoane, are awaiting a comprehensive application for the extradition process. The brothers, facing charges related to four cases of murder and attempted murder, are scheduled to appear in the Manzini Magistrate’s Court. They are implicated in the killings of AKA and Tebello in February 2023, as well as two additional murders in Durban between February and March.
On a different note, water shortages have hit southern Johannesburg after an outage at the Eikenhof pump station. Joburg Water is advising residents in the affected areas to use water judiciously due to the outage caused by a lightning strike at the city’s power substation. Although pumping has resumed, reservoir levels will take time to recover due to increased water consumption. Areas such as Soweto, Brixton, and parts of the Joburg CBD may experience low water pressure. The outage has also impacted Rand Water’s booster station supplying some city reservoirs. Joburg Water is monitoring the situation and deploying roaming tankers where necessary, while City Power has not provided a restoration time for electricity in the affected area.
Stay tuned for more updates on these developing stories in South Africa.
