Making headlines: ANC dismisses court challenge of its December conference as frivolous; Nomvula Mokonyane says the mandate for water provision and support knows no politics; And, Dlamini blames former Sassa CEO in payment scandal

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Madiba.
 
ANC dismisses court challenge of its December conference as frivolous

The African National Congress has rejected a court application to declare its 54th national elective conference null and void, as an abuse of court processes and frivolous.

This week, the party's deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte filed a responding affidavit against ANC member Vincent Myeni, who approached the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria asking for the December conference's results for the ANC's top six positions to be set aside and for fresh elections to take place.

In her court papers, Duarte asks the court to strike the matter off the roll with costs against Myeni.

She argued that Myeni failed to show urgency and could also not prove he was a member of the ANC in good standing.

Nomvula Mokonyane says the mandate for water provision and support knows no politics

Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane said Western Cape Premier Helen Zille and Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane are looking for a scapegoat on the water crisis.

Yesterday during a public meeting both Zille and Maimane said the responsibility to provide bulk water lay with the national department.

Mokonyane, yesterday said that her department would not be drawn into petty political squabbles while the people and economy of the Western Cape were on the verge of a possible water supply blackout.

She was responding to Zille, Maimane and the City of Cape Town's suggestions that the city had received little to no financial support from her department.

Mokonyane accused Zille and Maimane of absolving themselves of their responsibilities in the management of the water crisis.

And, Dlamini blames former Sassa CEO in payment scandal

Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini has put some of the blame on former South African Social Security Agency CEO Thokozani Magwaza for the social security agency grant scandal.

Dlamini yesterday faced her third day of gruelling cross-examination.

She was testifying at the Office of the Chief Justice in Midrand, north of Gauteng, at an inquiry into her role and liability in the 2017 social grant crisis.

The Constitutional Court had appointed retired Judge Bernard Ngoepe to investigate whether Dlamini should be held personally accountable for costs incurred in the Sassa payment scandal.

Dlamini, during cross-examination by Magwaza's lawyer, Advocate Richard Solomon, suggested that Magwaza lied in his submissions that she was in charge of workstreams that have come under scrutiny in the inquiry.

Also making headlines:
Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said the upcoming budget, to be unveiled in the spring, would involve interventions to boost confidence and grow the economy, as part of what he described as "a difficult fiscal framework".

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today
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