March 18, 2024.

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

Making headlines:

Ramaphosa has a message for Human Rights Month

DA wants Coalition Bills passed before May elections

And, ActionSA to push for regulation on pollling

Ramaphosa has a message for Human Rights Month

President Cyril Ramaphosa noted the deteriorating state of human rights and fundamental freedoms in many parts of the world, and said citizens are mindful of a moral responsibility to strive for human rights for everybody across the world.

Ramaphosa was writing to the nation in his weekly letter ahead of South Africa’s Human Rights Day, on Thursday.

He recalled the Sharpeville Massacre of March 21, 1960, when apartheid police killed 69 unarmed protesters who were taking a stand against the apartheid pass laws.

Ramaphosa noted that over the past three decades, citizens have worked together to undo the terrible legacy of apartheid.

However, he said the effects of apartheid persist in health, educational and developmental outcomes, access to basic services and infrastructure, as well as in the racialised nature of poverty, unemployment, inequality and exclusion.

He said Human Rights Month is an opportunity to assess the progress citizens have made over the past three decades to advance the Bill of Rights set out in the country’s Constitution, as well as to reflect honestly on where citizens have fallen short.

DA wants Coalition Bills passed before May elections

The Democratic Alliance wants all parties represented in Parliament to support its final two Private Member's Bills, part of the trilogy of its Coalition Bills, when they come to the House for a vote.

DA Chief Whip Siviwe Gwarube says once the country has a legislative framework for coalition governments, they will be held to account for any service delivery shortfalls.

The Bills hope to extend the time limit to appoint mayors and speakers, from 14 days to 30 days, to allow coalition partners more time to properly negotiate a successful coalition.

The Bills aim to insert an electoral threshold that would require parties to obtain a certain number of votes before they are able to qualify for seats in council. Also, if passed, the Bills will limit the number of motions of no confidence that can be brought against a mayor or speaker, to once in a twelve-month period – subject to certain exceptions.

ActionSA to push for regulation on pollling

ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont noted that his party will advocate for the regulation of the polling industry, which he said operates with impunity albeit “enabled by the vital democratic institution of a free and independent media”.

ActionSA has claimed that three media outlets published a poll on March 10 without any reference to the origin of the poll, following a previous instance in August.

He said in the instance of the most recent poll, the outcomes placed the DA at record levels of support, something he said appeared at odds with a party that had lost support in all demographics.

Further, the polls show that the uMkhonto weSizwe Party and the Economic Freedom Fighters are growing prodigiously.

He said in the media publishing the poll, the DA benefited from the artificial illusion of growth from a poll, which they themselves supply, placing them at 19% in KZN (up from 13% in 2019) and 30% in Gauteng (up from 27% in 2019).

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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