July 04, 2024.

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

Making headlines:

DA says it refused to be ‘co-opted’ into Gauteng govt by ANC

GOOD Party says it did not vote for R200 Joburg Electricity Tariff

And, More than 136 000 displaced by spread of war in southeast Sudan

DA says it refused to be ‘co-opted’ into Gauteng govt by ANC

The Democratic Alliance in Gauteng said it was impossible for it to be co-opted into government by the African National Congress, noting that the coalition parties are meant to be power sharing partners.

The leader of the DA in Gauteng Solly Msimanga explained that after robust negotiations with the ANC, they had decided to decline to take up seats on the ANC’s terms. The ANC wanted to give the DA three MEC positions but they declined, hoping for four.

Msimanga stated that negotiations were meant to be principle-based, as per the Statement of Intent that the ANC and the DA signed on a national level.

On Wednesday, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said the ANC’s stance was to separate national negotiations and agreements from provincial ones.

GOOD Party says it did not vote for R200 Joburg Electricity Tariff

In the wake of the controversy surrounding the new electricity surcharge of R200 for prepaid customers in Johannesburg, the GOOD Party has slammed parties and organisations that accused it of voting for the tariff.

GOOD stressed its opposition to the surcharge and said it was not present during the Council budget vote as it had a vacancy following the firing of its former councillor Lloyd Phillips.

It hit back against ActionSA, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse and the Sowetan newspaper for “spreading false information”.

In a statement on Thursday, City of Johannesburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda said the new surcharge was a necessary intervention to create fairness and equality in the municipality’s tariff regime.

He also condemned “any attempt to sabotage this critical intervention” and likened it to an attempt to deliberately collapse the City’s infrastructure.

More than 136 000 displaced by spread of war in southeast Sudan

More than 136 000 people have fled Sudan's southeastern Sennar state since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began a series of attacks on towns, the United Nations said, the latest wave of displacement caused by Sudan's almost 15-month long war.

They join nearly 10-million people driven from their homes since war broke out between the RSF and the regular army. The war has sparked accusations of "ethnic cleansing" and warnings of famine, mainly in RSF-controlled areas across the country.

The RSF on June 24 began a campaign to seize the city of Sennar, a trading hub, but quickly turned to the smaller towns of Sinjah and al-Dinder, prompting an exodus of civilians from all three, mainly to neighbouring al-Gedaref and Blue Nile states.

The UN's International Organization for Migration said in a statement that since June 24, an estimated total of 136 130 people had been displaced in Sennar.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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