State Attorney Faces Questions Over Former President Zuma's Legal Debt
Two years after the Supreme Court of Appeal ordered the State Attorney to recover the R18.2 million in taxpayer funds spent by Jacob Zuma on his corruption trial legal costs, the office has yet to issue a summons against the former president, reports News24. The State Attorney says it has briefed counsel and is working on the initial pleadings to recover the money, but has not provided an explanation for its failure to issue summons. Zuma had argued that withdrawal of state funding for these costs would be a violation of his constitutional rights, but the Appeal Court rejected that argument and found that "allowing officials to resist being held accountable, by drawing on state resources to obstruct or delay a prosecution" subverted the public interests. Zuma, who is reportedly currently receiving medical treatment in Russia, is due to appear in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg on August 15-16 , to make yet another attempt to force the removal of his corruption trial prosecutor Billy Downer.
Johannesburg Seeks Billions for Gas Blast Road Reconstruction
The cash-strapped City of Johannesburg will employ a team to oversee the money and processes that will go into fixing 400 metres of road and infrastructure ripped up in the massive Lilian Ngoyi (Bree) Street explosion, reports News24. The explosion claimed the life of one person and injured more than 40 others. The City is already financially precarious and does not have the resources to cover the cost of the reconstruction, so they are hoping that declaring the site a local disaster will allow them to access funding from the province or National Treasury. The City has assigned the group's chief financial officer to oversee a team to ensure that role-players working on the road comply with legislated procurement rules and is also awaiting the results of lab tests to determine the exact cause of the explosion.
Teacher Dismissed for Writing Racist Terms on Whiteboard
An 82-year-old substitute teacher has been dismissed from Crawford College in Pretoria after writing racist terms on a whiteboard, reports eNCA. The Gauteng Education Department wants her barred from ever teaching again and will report her to the South African Council for Educators for deregistration. The teacher was teaching provocative language during an English class and allegedly told pupils they must not be hurt when racially offensive terms were used because they were not affected by apartheid. The school is also considering legal action against the teacher.
