The alleged crimes relate to an arms procurement deal in the 1990s before he became president.

The French arms company Thales has also filed papers  seeking to have dropped the  charges its is  facing for allegedly paying bribes to Zuma.

The National Prosecution authority’s confirmed that applications have been received from former President Jacob Zuma and French arms company Thales.

Zuma’s due to appear in the High Court in east coast city of Durban on November 30 for a hearing in this case.

He has maintained his innocence throughout.

The alleged offenses occurred while he was provincial economy minister in KwaZulu/Natal and later Deputy President

Thales submits that the decision in 2009 to drop the charges was neither set aside nor challenged by the State.

By reintroducing the charges now, the prosecution is not following its own protocols and the unreasonable delay in dealing with the matter makes a fair trial impossible.

A separate judicial inquiry into alleged state corruption while Zuma was president is currently hearing evidence in `Johannesburg

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In the latest incident a young woman auditor was shot in the legs by assailants who broke into her hotel room and stole her laptop computer containing crucial information about her investigation.

Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Zweli Mkhize has strongly condemned the attack and acts of intimidation against government auditors.

In Vanderbijlpark south of Johannesburg assailants broke into the hotel where  a member of the Auditor General’s front line staff was being accommodated while she performed her investigation.

They shot her in both legs and left unscathed

a colleague who was sharing the room.

The attack follows threats in recent weeks against  Auditor General’s staff in the east coast port city of Durban and in Pietermaritzburg,  the capital of KwaZulu/Natal.

The victims were all deployed  to undertake audits of financial statements and performance information.

Mkhize says municipalities are at the centre of the economic revival  being championed by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

They have to show prudence in how they spend public finances and the Auditor General’s office is busy checking on this.

The minister calls on law enforcement agencies to follow up on the attacks and threats and ensure the perpetrators are brought to book.

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There’s been a furious reaction of social media to Malema’s remarks at the Youth Day rally

Julius Malema declared that black South Africans have suffered more than any other race.

He rounded on Indian journalists for coming to the defence of the deputy secretary general in the Treasury Ishmael Momoniat after EFF chief whip Floyd Shivambu objected to the presence of a non-African at a Parliamentary committee meeting.

Malema said there’s a tendency among South African Indians  to look down on Africans and that there was a hierarchy of oppression under apartheid.  He also said Indians were better off than mixed race South African called Coloureds, who were in turn better off than Africans.

According to Malema, this is why the liberation struggle was to free blacks in general and Africans in particular.

He went on to say that Africans must never apologize for this, and they must never be scared to say most Indians are racist. 

He also claimed that  the majority of Indians hate Africans.

Malema believes that this a reality Africans have to deal with.

This is not an entirely new issue. A year ago Mama infuriated the Indian community saying they exploited African workers and monopolized the economy of the KwaZulu/Natal province where most of them live. 

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A statement by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation states the kidnapping has not been proved to be linked to terrorism.

The orginal advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office following the kidnapping in KwaZulu/Natal states there have been no terrorist attacks in South Africa in recent years.

The names of the victims, who have been freed unharmed, have not been released.

South African police have questioned two suspects.

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation rarely responds to travel advisories from foreign countries.

In this case though, it indicates the FCO’s revised statement might incorrectly link the kidnapping  to terrorism.

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The human rights watchdog says politically-motivated killings have risen to appalling levels these past three years, particularly in KwaZulu/Natal.

Amnesty International’s executive director for South Africa Shenilla Mohamed says political assassinations have to be investingated promptly, thoroughly, transparently and impartially.

The new ANC leadership must ensure accountability and bring the culprits to justice  in fair trials.

The root causes of political killings must be established.

They are not new to South Africa. 600 political killings took place in this country in the decade before 2016.

Authorities must  search for remedies, the payment of reparations for victims and  guarantees of non repetition of this evil.

The post Amnesty say new ANC leadership must bring political assassins to book appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Noah’s cousin has been brutally murdered in KwaZulu-Natal.

Police are investigating the slaying but no arrests have been made.

Ends intro

This is the second time the family of the highly-successful Sowetan-born comedian has fallen victim to rampant criminality in South Africa.

In 2009, Trevor Noah’s stepfather shot his mother three times in a violent rage.

A bullet narrowly missed her spine and she survived.

Noah’s cousin Cebisile Happiness Khoza was travelling from her hometown in South Africa’s east coast province to her graduation ceremony.

When she did not arrive, a search ensued and farmworkers found her burnt body in a sugarcane field.

She had been stabbed several times.

Khoza had begun writing her mother’s cellphone number in the dust when she died.

Noah’s grandmother, Nomalizo Noah, says the incidents make her feel that the women in her family are cursed.

Landing the prestigious US talk show slot vacated by Jon Stewart is a huge coup for Noah.

South Africans have celebrated the 31-year-old’s celebrity status as he rubbed shoulders with comedy stars like Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David.

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