For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Madiba.

Making headlines: Ramaphosa says it is not 'unreasonable' that Zuma's spy army was behind last month's unrest; Probe finds deaths of 29 vaccinated people not linked to the jab; And, EFF challenges dismissal of its bid to unseal CR17 records

Ramaphosa says it is not 'unreasonable' that Zuma's spy army was behind last month's unrest

President Cyril Ramaphosa admitted that linking corruption-accused former president Jacob Zuma's alleged armed spy army to the deadly unrest that engulfed KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng last month was not unreasonable.

Ramaphosa resumed his testimony before the Zondo Commission today, where evidence leader Paul Pretorius probed him on the longstanding mis-governance and criminality at the State Security Agency.

Pretorius said a list of operatives in Zuma's presidential protection spy army and evidence that they had arms, were "under lock and key" before the unrest broke out.

Probe finds deaths of 29 vaccinated people not linked to the jab

After investigations, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority has been unable to link any deaths reported to it to the Covid-19 vaccine.

The authority has so far investigated 29 cases of death that occurred shortly after people received the Covid-19 vaccine, spokesperson Yuven Gounden said.

To date, 29 investigations have been completed, of which 26 were coincidental to vaccination. This means that these deaths were not related or linked to the vaccination.

Three cases are unfortunately unclassifiable because there was either no information available about the case or the information was completely inadequate; hence causality assessment could not be conducted.

People who experience adverse side effects after getting the Covid-19 vaccine are encouraged to report this to the regulator.

And, EFF challenges dismissal of its bid to unseal CR17 records

The Economic Freedom Fighters have filed an application for leave to appeal Acting Judge Cassim Sardiwalla's ruling that it had no right to seek the unsealing of President Cyril Ramaphosa's CR17 bank statements.

Gauteng High Court in Pretoria Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba sealed the records in 2019, after Ramaphosa's lawyers asked that they not be made publicly available because they contained confidential donor information. 

The EFF now argue that Sardiwalla's ruling "contradicts no fewer than three Constitutional Court and/or Supreme Court of Appeal judgments on the open justice principle".

They are seeking to challenge it in the Appeal Court.

In papers filed at the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, lawyers for the party argued that Sardiwalla was wrong to find that it had failed to show it had any right to access those records.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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