Making headlines: Zuma launches programme to redress economic imbalance in KZN, Struggling Ipid's budget less than Nkandla upgrades cost And, Zimbabwean activist pastor charged over illegal protest

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.

Zuma launches programme to redress economic imbalance in KZN

President Jacob Zuma yesterday launched Operation Vula, KwaZulu-Natal’s ground-breaking policy programme aimed at addressing the skewed economic make-up of the province through the empowerment of the previously disenfranchised.

Accompanied by members of the Provincial Executive Council in Ixobho Zuma described Operation Vula and its subsidiary, known as the Radical Agrarian Socio-Economic Transformation programme, as “critical milestones in government’s on-going campaign to bring about meaningful and tangible economic freedom which has profound positive implications on the lives of people”.

Struggling Ipid's budget less than Nkandla upgrades cost

The Independent Police Investigative Directorate, the struggling investigative unit tasked with probing instances of police misconduct, has a budget less than the cost of security upgrades to President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla homestead.

Ipid head Robert McBride told MPs that they had to put some projects on the backburner in the last financial year to ensure they did not overspend more than their R242-million budget.

Security upgrades to the president's homestead had cost a reported R246-million but an Ipid unit which had become a household name with more complaints to investigate was punching above its weight amid a 21% increase in reported cases in the last two quarters.

Zimbabwean activist pastor charged over illegal protest

A Zimbabwean pastor at the heart of a protest movement against President Robert Mugabe last year is set to appear in court today after he was arrested for addressing students demonstrating over fees, his lawyer said.

Evan Mawarire - whose #ThisFlag movement last year led to the biggest anti-government rallies in a decade - was arrested on Monday when he spoke at a protest by University of Zimbabwe medical students.

Mawarire denied the charges of "participating in an illegal gathering" or "causing disorderly conduct", his lawyer Harrison Nkomo said.

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