For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Lynne Davies.

Making headlines: ActionSA announces Kwena Mangope as North West Premier candidate; ANC aims to restore human dignity with ‘Title Deeds Friday’ campaign; And, More special remissions coming to reduce overcrowding in prisons

ActionSA announces Kwena Mangope as North West Premier candidate

Kwena Mangope, the son of former Bophuthatswana leader Lucas Mangope, is ActionSA’s Premier candidate for the North West.

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba made the announcement today.

If elected, Mangope has promised to follow through on the outcomes of the Zondo Commission inquiry and fix "dysfunctional municipalities" by using skills audit to remove unqualified employees.

Mangope, who is a former military soldier, said he chose ActionSA owing to its vision, which he says aims for an inclusive, prosperous and secure future for all South Africans in a country healed from its past.

ANC aims to restore human dignity with ‘Title Deeds Friday’ campaign

Amid the release of the country’s latest census, which showed a 10.9% increase in formal dwellings since the last census in 2011, the African National Congress-led government is amplifying the ‘Title Deeds Friday’ campaign that was launched over the weekend.

The ANC explains that the campaign is being rolled out nationally, guaranteeing society ownership and security over houses and land.

The ANC says the campaign is a reversal of the “ugly vestiges of apartheid” that saw black citizens subjected to inhumane evictions and not being allowed the opportunity to own land.

In 1955 progressive South Africans led and united by the ANC and fraternal organisations met in Kliptown, Soweto in what is called the Congress of the People to adopt the Freedom Charter.

The ANC explained that the campaign on title deeds is the restoration and guarantee of human dignity.

And, More special remissions coming to reduce overcrowding in prisons

Special remissions - like the one that saw former president Jacob Zuma released from jail - are set to be repeated as the Department of Correctional Services grapples with overcrowding.

Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola defended the remission in August to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services, saying it reduced overcrowding by 15%.

Democratic Alliance MPs Janho Engelbrecht and Glynnis Breytenbach were not impressed.

Inmates benefitting from remission were not the only ones leaving jails under discussion: While admitting rapist and murderer Thabo Bester's escape "undermined" the department's efforts, Lamola said correctional facilities were not "synonymous" with escapes.

Only 27 inmates escaped in the 2022/23 financial year.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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