For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I am Lumkile Nkomfe.

Making headlines: DA calls on Police Minister to set aside Mbotho’s appointment to Hawks; MK Party celebrates court victory against expelled Khumalo; And, WHO says almost 30 000 suspected mpox cases in Africa this year

DA calls on Police Minister to set aside Mbotho’s appointment to Hawk

The Democratic Alliance said Major General Patrick Mbotho’s appointment as divisional commissioner for national priority offences at the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, otherwise known as the Hawks, is nothing less than an insult to the nation's commitment to building a “professional, competent and clean” law enforcement community.

The party called on Police Minister Senzo Mchunu to set aside his appointment.

Last week Mbotho was appointed to the position, with effective from October 1.

Mbotho was accused of posting graphic sexual content on a South African Police Service detective command WhatsApp group from his official cellphone in 2017, when he was the Western Cape Provincial Commissioner of Detectives.

DA police spokesperson Lisa Schickerling said the DA would write to Mchunu requesting that he undertake a full investigation into the process taken in Mbotho’s appointment as well as the myriad allegations levelled against him.

The party will also request that the outcomes of such an investigation be presented to the Portfolio Committee for further interrogation.

MK Party celebrates court victory against expelled Khumalo

The uMkhonto weSizwe Party celebrated a court victory against expelled founding member Jabulani Khumalo, noting a series of related court victories against what it calls its “detractors” in the past six months.

This after the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ruled in favour of the MKP, ordering Khumalo to pay punitive costs to the party.

The High Court also ordered Standard Bank to remove Khumalo as a signatory to the MKP bank account held by the bank.

Lat month, Khumalo opened a case of fraud against party leader former President Jacob Zuma, claiming that Zuma unlawfully removed him as a director of the party's non-profit organisation.

The party claimed that Khumalo wanted to hang on to being a signatory to the MKP bank account under the pretext that his expulsion is on appeal.

“This is false because his ill-fated appeal relates only to the issue of the face of the MK Party on the ballot paper which has been long overtaken by events,” the party said.

The MKP further highlighted that it was clear that Khumalo was well funded by “enemies of the MK Party”.

And, WHO says almost 30 000 suspected mpox cases in Africa this year

Nearly 30 000 suspected mpox cases have been reported in Africa so far this year, most of them in Democratic Republic of Congo where tests have run out, the World Health Organization said today.

More than 800 people died of suspected mpox across the continent in that time, the United Nations health body said in a report. Congo's central African neighbour Burundi has also been hit by the growing outbreak, it added.

Mpox can spread through close contact. Usually mild, it is fatal in some cases. It typically causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body.

The WHO statement did not give comparative figures from previous years. The African Union's public health agency has said 14 957 cases and 739 deaths were reported from seven affected States in 2023 - a 78.5% increase in new cases from 2022.

There were 29 342 suspected cases and 812 deaths across Africa from January to September 15 this year, according to the WHO report.

A total of 2 082 confirmed cases were reported across the world in August alone, the highest since November 2022, the WHO said.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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