February 19, 2024.

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Halima Frost.

Making headlines:

ANC says it will hand over cadre deployment records to DA on time

Cele hands over cars to boost Hawks fleet, notes killing of 22 officers

And, UN in Libya urges probe into Tripoli shooting deaths

The African National Congress hit back at the Democratic Alliance today for creating “fevered speculation” and a disinformation campaign relating to the cadre deployment records the party has been court-ordered to hand over.

Today is the deadline for the ANC to hand over all records relating to its cadre deployment committee to the DA, following a Constitutional Court judgment handed down last week.

The DA said on Saturday it rejected the ANC’s request for an extended deadline to submit the documents and warned that it would go back to court for a contempt of court order if the ANC did not comply.

ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said the party would comply with the court order and would hand over the relevant records by the end of business on Monday.

She said the ANC rejects the DA’s threats to lay charges of contempt of court against party leadership.

Police Minister Bheki Cele expressed confidence in the work of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, or the Hawks, and handed over a new fleet of cars to improve response time and broaden the footprint of the DPCI across the country.

Cele handed over 22 VW Golf 8 GTIs to the DPCI in Pretoria, where he said it is through these vehicles that Hawks detectives can attend to court cases and give valuable evidence on their investigations.

He noted that transport resources are an indispensable addition in the fight against day-to-day and organised crime, and said he has no doubt that the vehicles will have a major impact in the fight against crime.

Meanwhile, Head of the DPCI, Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya said 22 police officials were murdered in the third quarter, twelve off duty and ten on duty, and that twelve arrests were affected.

He warned criminals attacking police officers that the law will not have mercy on them.

The United Nations mission in Libya has urged authorities to investigate the shooting deaths of 10 people in a Tripoli neighbourhood, with city security chiefs saying the victims included two members of a powerful armed faction.

The UN said in a statement released on social media that the authorities should "prevent any actions that could lead to escalation and further violence".

Libya has had little peace since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising and it split in 2014, with rival factions taking over different parts of the country.

Although major warfare has paused since a 2020 ceasefire, different groups still wield control over various government and security departments.

Flashes of conflict have repeatedly flared in Tripoli since 2020, with brief bursts of conflict between rival groups, sometimes linked to the country's wider political contest over ultimate control of government.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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