0:02

with Mandy Weiner on 702.

0:05

Let's walk the talk, streaming

0:07

on the Prime Media Plus

0:09

ad, DSTV channel 856,

0:11

92 .7, and 106

0:13

FM. Coming

0:16

up on the show today, we'll speak to

0:18

the police about that breaking news and

0:20

the three missing police constables. The

0:22

Transport Minister releases Easter traffic stats,

0:24

the lowest fatality rate in three

0:26

years. The Karting Premier launches an

0:28

investigation into government property rental, an update

0:30

on the Takai fires and on

0:32

the Valdam level with the Minister

0:34

of Water closing argument in the

0:36

Justin Smith trial. All of that

0:38

over the next hour. The

0:41

midday report with Mandy Weiner

0:43

streaming on the Prime

0:46

Media Plus app, DSTV channel

0:48

856, 92 .7 and 106

0:50

FM. Good

0:52

afternoon. Welcome to the Madeira Port

0:54

on 7 .02 and Cape Talk with me,

0:56

Mandy Wiener, good to be with you today.

0:59

We are going to speak to

1:01

Aklenda Maite, the National Police spokesperson, about

1:04

the developments in that case around

1:06

the three missing police constables. As

1:08

you heard in our witness news

1:10

there, police are appealing for sensitivity.

1:13

So we'll wait for the police to arrive

1:15

on the scene and we'll speak to

1:17

Aklenda Maite, but later on in the show

1:19

as well. A lot of other stories

1:21

that we are following for you today closing

1:23

argument in the Jocelyn Smith trial

1:25

as well. That trial has

1:27

gone very quickly indeed. When

1:30

you think about the Senzoma Yua

1:32

trial as an example, how long

1:34

that has taken, and you see

1:36

closing argument already in the Jocelyn

1:38

Smith trial. And then the

1:40

fires in Cape Town, if you

1:42

are out there, if you are

1:44

still in the Takai area, if

1:46

you've been affected at all by

1:48

those fires, in touch with us

1:50

and also we'll speak to the

1:53

Minister of Water about the situation

1:55

around the voldem. He's

1:57

raised concerns about the fact that there are

1:59

some residents who are not evacuating.

2:02

Other residents have raised concerns

2:05

about how the water officials

2:07

have been negligent in

2:09

dealing with opening the

2:11

sluice gates at the

2:13

Valdam. So we'll

2:15

speak to the Minister of

2:17

Water about that. If

2:19

you want to send us

2:22

a WhatsApp voice note,

2:24

0721702 0725671567. The Minister

2:26

of Transport Barbara Creasy

2:28

today releasing the Easter traffic

2:30

numbers saying that Easter

2:32

2025 had the lowest number

2:34

of crashes and fatalities that

2:37

we've seen for the

2:39

last three years. The number

2:41

is still really concerning

2:43

though. Crashes reduced from 209

2:45

last year to 241

2:47

this year at 32 .5 %

2:49

overall decrease. Mongezi Koko,

2:51

EWN reporter at that briefing for

2:53

us. Mongezi, good afternoon to you. Thank

2:55

you very much for your time

2:57

today. Tell us about the numbers released

2:59

by Barbara Creasy today. could

3:02

also do and you won't like

3:04

you said we saw that

3:07

number drop from 209 to 141

3:09

this being the crashes and

3:11

fatalities i need to also expand

3:13

on the fatalities which had

3:15

dropped from 307 in 2024 to

3:17

167 in 2025 now this

3:20

is a 45 .6 decrease this

3:22

is not the same as the

3:24

one that you mentioned which

3:26

involves the crashes. Now, overall,

3:28

we've seen each and every

3:30

single province recorded decrease, of

3:33

course, except for the Malanga

3:35

province. Otherwise, we've seen some highlights

3:37

mentioned by Minister Barbara Creasy,

3:39

which went on to mention that

3:42

around 44 ,000 traffic fines were

3:44

issued. We saw 1 ,500 vehicles

3:46

being impounded, and nearly 1 ,000

3:48

drivers arrested for drunken driving.

3:50

Now, this, of course, was just

3:53

that period, the Easter period,

3:55

being from the 15th. of April

3:57

and spending up until the

3:59

24th. So it's really not a

4:01

long period, but we saw

4:03

a lot of issues come tonight.

4:05

Now, the minister also made

4:07

mention that increased pedestrian movement and

4:09

the fatalities of these said

4:11

pedestrians is also on the app

4:13

tick. We saw 47 % of

4:15

the fatalities involving pedestrians. So

4:17

the department basically vowing to then

4:19

sit up and try and

4:21

ensure that the campaigns focus on

4:23

the pedestrians. I'm also going

4:25

to give you a quick provincial

4:27

based on Eastern Cape saw

4:30

28 fatalities as compared to

4:32

29 in 2024, three

4:34

states, seven compared to 12

4:36

in 2024, holding 22 compared

4:38

to 52. And of course,

4:40

the number of other provinces also seen decreases,

4:42

like I said, except for the Burmese

4:44

province. That aside, we've

4:46

seen an ultimate 16 %

4:48

decline in fatalities between the

4:51

marches at the month

4:53

of January and March. So

4:55

the Department of Transport

4:57

really loathing traffic enforcement officials

5:00

and everyone involved in ensuring that

5:02

the numbers do go down and

5:04

promising to implement certain strategies such

5:06

as having 24 -hour traffic offices

5:08

on the roads. Now Mandy EWA

5:10

then posed a question to the

5:12

Transport Minister regarding how many penalties

5:14

can be attributed to the aging

5:16

infrastructure that we see on the

5:18

roads, whether it be potholes or

5:20

only bridges that have been vandalized

5:22

that aren't really working. and the

5:24

minister then struggled to provide us with this

5:26

answer, but eventually after deliberation with the

5:28

team, then got back and fit

5:31

8 .5 and also informing EWN to

5:33

do their own calculations, giving us

5:35

a rough stat. So I'm not too

5:37

certain why the department goes really

5:39

thick into account that some of these

5:41

fatalities are caused by alien infrastructure.

5:43

So that was basically what the minister

5:46

had to say regarding a number

5:48

of these challenges that we see on

5:50

the roads. Mongezi, thank you

5:52

very much. Mongezi Koko, EWN reporter

5:54

at that briefing. One of the

5:56

points that the minister made as

5:58

well, which was very concerning was that

6:00

many of the pedestrians that are

6:02

killed are children who are on

6:04

their walking to school. And

6:06

that really, really is worrying, the

6:09

fact that we're seeing children being

6:11

knocked over while they are walking

6:13

to school. But encouraging that we're

6:15

seeing that breakdown, taking

6:17

a listen to, that we're seeing

6:19

a decrease at the in the number of

6:22

fatalities. Let's take a listen to what Barbara

6:24

Creasy had to say. So

6:36

that's the provincial number, all

6:39

of the provinces showing a decrease

6:41

aside from Poma Langa and

6:43

just some other stats for you

6:45

as well. 177 ,584

6:47

vehicles were stopped and

6:49

checked, 44 ,505 traffic fines

6:51

were issued, 941 drivers

6:54

arrested for drunk driving

6:56

and 12 pedestrians arrested

6:58

for jaywalking. Also eight

7:00

drunk drivers were arrested

7:02

for attempting to bribe

7:04

officers. Those

7:06

are the numbers from Barbara

7:08

Creasy around the Easter traffic

7:10

stats. Reports

7:18

at the weekend about

7:20

the Kharting provincial government paying

7:22

34 million rand a

7:24

month to rent space for

7:27

government offices, while some

7:29

government -owned buildings remain open. The

7:32

Premier in Kharting, Panjazele Sufi,

7:34

issued a statement yesterday saying

7:36

that an independent forensic firm

7:38

will be appointed, or has

7:40

been appointed, to assess whether

7:43

the leasing arrangement provides value

7:45

for money and investigate potential

7:47

wrongdoing. in all of these

7:49

contracts. So responding there to

7:51

the initial report that came

7:54

out, Khating Provincial Governments spokesperson,

7:56

Vuyo Marga joining us now. Vuyo

7:58

was due to be on with my

8:00

colleague Bongani Bingwa earlier today. Vuyo,

8:02

good afternoon to you. Thank you very

8:04

much for making time to speak

8:06

to us. No, thank you

8:08

very much, Mandy, and my apologies for

8:10

earlier on. I think the interview

8:12

just overlapped and it was live, so I

8:14

could not just stop them. But I apologize

8:16

to your listeners and to your colleague. So

8:19

not avoiding Bongani then? No,

8:21

I will never. I've got

8:23

no reason to. Of course,

8:25

of course. OK, so the

8:27

Premier has appointed a forensic

8:30

investigation now. What exactly

8:32

is the intention of that investigation?

8:35

Really, to check, I mean, if there's

8:37

value for money in terms of

8:39

us missing these buildings and obviously to

8:42

maybe just go a bit deeper.

8:44

in terms of some of these buildings

8:46

that belong to the province that

8:48

are not necessarily used. So you're going

8:50

to do that cost, you

8:52

know, balance assessment to say, if

8:55

we use our buildings and then we're

8:57

actually able to rev it them

8:59

up, this is the new thing, why

9:01

then do we basically get out

9:03

of that? So really, that is to

9:05

really find out if there's not

9:07

been any inflated prizes or some collusion

9:10

or somehow just as a questionnaire

9:12

measure in terms of this particular spent.

9:15

Why is the Khartin government spending

9:17

this much money on renting property

9:19

when we have property that the

9:21

government owns? Well,

9:23

many are a couple of things.

9:25

One is that some of these

9:27

buildings, in terms of their health

9:29

standards, are not up to scratch. And

9:32

obviously, the minute you enter into that

9:34

space, then you kind of

9:36

endanger the lives of the workers.

9:39

And correctly so, the unions would themselves then

9:41

start to refuse to say we can't

9:43

necessarily go to this building and they need

9:45

to deal with the issue of maintenance.

9:47

And I think we must actually also be

9:49

honest. The amount for

9:51

the maintenance has not necessarily

9:53

been adequate to respond. And

9:56

obviously that is due to many things, the

9:58

budget cuts that all of us in the country

10:00

we are actually quite aware of. So

10:02

there's not necessarily adequate setup to

10:04

really deal with this part. So part

10:06

of the conversation now is that Let's

10:08

go through the lease agreement as a

10:10

temporary measure, but the long -term goal

10:12

can we then crowd the private sector

10:15

partnership that we can be able to

10:17

revamp the buildings to the standard that

10:19

it will be acceptable to all of

10:21

us in particular to the workers so

10:23

that they are able to be in

10:25

their workstation and able to provide some

10:28

of the work. So it's basically that

10:30

part of the combination. Who is responsible

10:32

for maintaining the government buildings because it's

10:34

kind of counterintuitive the fact that the

10:36

government's not maintaining the building so the

10:38

government then has to spend money on

10:41

renting other buildings because you're not maintaining

10:43

your own buildings? No, no,

10:45

it's us, the provincial government, through the

10:47

Department of Infrastructure. As I've said,

10:49

I mean, if we have to say

10:51

let's maintain all the housing buildings

10:53

now, honestly, we don't have that money

10:55

in the department to basically let's

10:57

do that work. as all of it,

10:59

as the night will go to

11:01

basically billions. Remember, some of these buildings

11:03

are quite old buildings that are

11:05

part of the heritage site. And I

11:07

think you'll know there are rules

11:09

that govern in terms of the heritage

11:11

site and some of the other

11:13

issues. So let's take for example, a

11:15

typical example about Charlotte, not like

11:17

that, you know, we had

11:20

a fire sometime back when we're

11:22

to further doing the honorable things

11:24

to remove, you know, the patients

11:26

at the hospital. so that they

11:28

cannot necessarily be endangered. When we

11:30

had to go back, then we

11:32

had to use the rules of

11:34

the health safety standards of now.

11:37

In a building that was built

11:39

in the 70s, and there were

11:41

a lot of things that needed

11:43

to change, that would almost really

11:45

cost the province quite an amount

11:47

of money. So these buildings belong

11:49

through that era, that if you

11:52

have to continue to maintain them

11:54

and to revamp them, you need

11:56

to use the current health safety

11:58

standards. that obviously got enacted prior

12:00

these buildings, you know,

12:02

were currently occupied or built

12:04

at the time. We always complain

12:07

that government's very reactionary. Why

12:09

did it take a report in

12:11

the Sunday Times for the Premier to

12:13

institute this forensic investigation? I

12:16

know, I mean, it's not

12:18

been, I think there has been a

12:20

conversation, if you go through the

12:22

premier state of the province address, part

12:24

of it is that how do

12:26

you rebuild the CBD using how can

12:29

government properties to reinvest in the

12:31

CBD whereas the private sector is leaving

12:33

the CBD so that you don't

12:35

leave a ghost town. So the long

12:37

term idea is to make sure

12:39

that you revamp those buildings. Some of

12:41

the buildings currently we are in

12:43

exchange of them with the national government

12:45

as you'll know during the Transvaal

12:47

era the provincial aid office was in

12:50

Pretoria so you've got about a

12:52

lot of buildings that are outside and

12:54

you've got the uh national buildings

12:56

that are this side so there's also

12:58

that swap that were in conversation

13:00

with the national government to make sure

13:02

that we don't leave Juana's bank

13:04

most of the you know uh you

13:06

know corporate companies have left because

13:08

you're going to create a cost under

13:11

so it's an all -time setup the

13:13

only thing now we are then

13:15

looking at is this uh the amount

13:17

of 34 million. Is it justifiable

13:19

that we do the 34 million? Because

13:21

we got the report, but the

13:23

printer says that let's make sure that

13:25

we double check and sign all

13:27

the all the thoughts and cross all

13:29

the teeth so that we don't

13:32

think we're then taking care of. But

13:34

it is a thing that we

13:36

really do need at the current moment.

13:38

Thank you very much. We are

13:40

Margarhating Provincial Government spokesperson explaining this investigation

13:42

that has been set in motion

13:44

by an independent forensic firm, looking at

13:46

why the government is paying 34

13:48

million rand a month to rent space

13:50

for government offices. 12

13:58

.23 on the midday report.

14:00

We've been following the developments

14:02

around the Val Dam and

14:04

the evacuations as the water

14:06

level increasing in the Val

14:09

River system. Residents in areas

14:11

along the Val River are

14:13

reportedly refusing evacuation orders despite

14:15

dangerous flooding conditions. Some also

14:17

criticising the authorities and saying

14:19

that they could have better

14:22

managed the flooding situation. Great

14:24

pleasure. to welcome now the

14:26

Deputy Minister of Water and

14:28

Sanitation, David Machlovo. Deputy Minister,

14:30

good afternoon to you. Thank

14:32

you very much for your

14:35

time today. Thank

14:37

you very much, Mandy, and a

14:39

very good afternoon to all your

14:41

listeners across the length and breadth

14:43

of our country. So

14:45

let's start with the

14:47

concerns that you have raised

14:49

around some residents not

14:51

evacuating. What is the concern

14:53

there about what the

14:56

officials have been dealing with?

14:59

Remember managing a situation

15:01

that has an impact

15:03

on livelihoods but it

15:06

can also affect lives

15:08

if we don't work

15:10

together in terms of

15:12

a whole society approach. Remember

15:14

Minister Pemima Jodina on the

15:17

9th of April and myself, we

15:19

visited the valve system there

15:21

that they must bring that time

15:23

with actually open only six

15:25

loose gates. Then additional water was

15:27

received over the last a

15:30

few days. From Saturday the

15:32

system was having too much

15:34

water more than 120 % in

15:36

other ways were to open additional

15:38

loose gates. Even this morning

15:40

the loose gates that are open

15:43

at 10. And it

15:45

has the biggest impact. When you

15:47

have an inflow like yesterday of

15:49

1 .8 billion liters per second, and

15:52

this is what we're also releasing from

15:54

the system. But this morning, the

15:56

inflow is going to be down

15:58

in terms of 1 .5 billion liters,

16:00

and then we're releasing about 1 .7. But

16:03

because the other small rivers

16:05

or tributaries meant it towards

16:07

the Valparite where Rendoeta is

16:09

having a structure that is

16:11

there, They've opened up a

16:13

data of the data space.

16:16

And it then starts to accumulate

16:18

in terms of the volume and

16:20

the speed until they're called plume -off.

16:22

Plume -off, as we speak right

16:24

now, they are actually still

16:26

releasing up to 3 .6 billion

16:28

liters per second, which is very

16:31

serious. Then we work

16:33

with communities and the local

16:35

operation centers. We call them

16:37

jobs, the police, national series

16:39

to institute local government and

16:41

others. And including society and

16:43

yourselves, people are responding to

16:45

the message of Minister Machudina

16:47

and myself to support these

16:50

communities. But others, for

16:52

various reasons, they don't want to hit

16:54

their call. And when they

16:56

don't want to hit their call,

16:58

their livelihood, their infrastructure is being

17:00

endangered. For some of them,

17:02

they decided to build within the red zone,

17:04

which is within the flat ground of

17:06

the river bank. When we visited the areas,

17:09

others are less than 10 meters inside

17:11

the river that is there. And

17:13

when these issues are happening, then

17:15

they will then claim government

17:17

because those guys were managing the

17:19

devs all over them in

17:21

the country. They have standard operating

17:24

procedures. Ours is not just

17:26

releasing off water because it's a

17:28

control measure, but within

17:30

the norms to say when the

17:32

dev is at this level and

17:34

this level, you start to release

17:36

these gates, the number of them,

17:38

they are imagined to be able

17:40

to manage the pressure so that

17:43

you don't impact on the structural

17:45

integrity of that particular river. Because

17:47

there is criticism, as you mentioned,

17:49

from some residents saying that this

17:51

has not been managed well in

17:53

terms of the opening of the

17:55

gates and the decision to open

17:57

additional sluice gates. There's been concern

17:59

around that. What is your reaction

18:01

to that criticism? Do you believe it has

18:03

been well managed? The system

18:05

is well managed. Remember,

18:08

there was a time in 2011 when we

18:10

had opened more sluice cases than we have

18:13

opened today, where we opened 11,

18:15

12 of these sluice cases, which was the

18:17

biggest number. They really dig

18:19

in. What mischief are we dealing

18:21

with? The mischief we're dealing with is

18:23

that there are people who have

18:25

cited or who are in business operation

18:27

within a flat line. When

18:29

you are in a flat line,

18:31

you expose yourselves to high risk.

18:33

And it's not even a disaster,

18:35

because it's a man -made problem. Even

18:38

if we're actually doing

18:40

illegal releases or unplanned

18:42

releases, the river banks,

18:45

I mean, they will have broken down. If

18:47

it had broken down, it could

18:49

cause more disasters. And there

18:51

is no way that government

18:53

will not do the responsible act

18:56

of controlled releases, because if

18:58

a dam has a flat absorptive

19:00

capacity, remember these dams aren't

19:02

different. The dam like the valve

19:04

dam, the dam like blow -morph and

19:06

the others, they don't have

19:08

something called a spillway. When the water

19:10

is fully in the dam, automatically

19:12

the water flows down. These

19:14

ones are closed. In other words, it's a

19:16

dam wall. And that dam

19:18

wall is a number of gates

19:20

that you can be in a

19:23

position to open using a mechanical

19:25

and hydroponical aspect of opening those

19:27

particular dams. These dams, we never

19:29

opened them at 100%. We allowed

19:31

them to be full, but these

19:33

dams cannot be allowed to be

19:35

above 126 % because that's the

19:37

final range at which you can

19:39

be able to allow water to

19:41

be stopped. Imagine billboards and billboards

19:43

of liters that are held in

19:45

the Val River. If they can

19:47

get opened, then they will flow

19:50

down into the Val Parage to

19:52

take it away. 3 .6

19:54

billion liters are coming down. throw

19:56

the bloom off, it goes

19:58

down to thunderclaw, it goes to

20:00

Harib, it goes to

20:02

Northern Cape until into the Orient system. Then

20:05

we'll cause a disaster like you

20:07

saw it in Libya. Remember the

20:09

Dam in Libya, that's actually best

20:11

because some of the people are

20:13

not managing it well. Other countries

20:15

in Europe, these dams are not

20:17

managed well. We still have capable

20:19

young men and women and experienced

20:21

engineers and hydrologists that are managing

20:23

the system. But ours is to

20:25

be able to say less work

20:27

together to avoid these issues. Government

20:29

at no stage will not say

20:31

we don't regret any inconvenience that

20:33

has been caused, but we are

20:36

very happy pleased by those who

20:38

responded positively, including during the

20:40

festive season. Remember, there was a

20:42

path over the past hours. They

20:44

never took people to the rivers.

20:46

There are no fatalities that are

20:48

reported, but including other civic organization

20:50

and NGOs. that are assisting us

20:52

even in terms of relocating some

20:54

of these people. Deputy Minister,

20:56

thank you very much for

20:59

your time. Deputy Minister of Water

21:01

and Sanitation David Machlow speaking

21:03

there about the management of the

21:05

Val Dam at the moment,

21:07

saying that some communities are cooperating,

21:09

some are not cooperating, also

21:11

responding there to some criticism around

21:13

the opening of additional sluice

21:15

gates. the

21:26

madness of it all

21:28

if the buildings were

21:30

maintained regularly they wouldn't

21:32

have fallen into the

21:35

disrepair where you need

21:37

billions to revamp the

21:39

buildings because maintenance means

21:41

what a leak of

21:44

paint once a year

21:47

checking of this and checking of

21:49

that once a year just to

21:51

keep the buildings functioning. So

21:53

they were left for

21:55

many, many, many, many years

21:57

until they are at

21:59

the point where it is

22:01

not maintenance but a

22:03

whole complete revamp. Madness.

22:05

Hello Mandy, Tyron Rainberg. Listen, with

22:08

regard to the minister they are speaking

22:10

about what he's going to do

22:12

about these buildings and the rent. Maybe

22:15

he needs to, he didn't mention something,

22:17

maybe he needs to see who actually owns

22:19

those buildings. And if there's

22:21

any affiliation to government officials, maybe

22:23

that's very important because then you can

22:25

see whether there's any bribery or

22:27

corruption going on. So this is the

22:29

point I was trying to make,

22:31

right? Who's responsible for

22:33

maintaining these buildings? If they don't maintain

22:35

them, then it's their own responsibility. And

22:38

do you justify then spending tens

22:40

of millions of rand every month?

22:42

Is that then less than what

22:45

it would cost you to actually

22:47

maintain these buildings? And an important

22:49

point there, I'm sure that'll be

22:51

part of the forensic investigation, is

22:53

who actually owns the buildings that

22:55

the government is then renting? Who

22:57

is actually benefiting? Is

22:59

there some dodginess afoot there? A

23:07

very interesting story on

23:09

News 24 today about an

23:11

influential anonymous right -wing ex

23:13

-account that has been posting

23:15

racist tropes and promoting

23:17

selective views that have reinforce

23:19

the misinformation about South

23:21

Africa in the eyes of

23:23

Donald Trump and Elon

23:25

Musk, the investigation by

23:27

Carl Cowan, revealing who

23:29

actually owns this account,

23:31

Burr, at Twatterbass. And

23:33

joining us now to explain

23:35

more about that is Carl Cowan,

23:38

News 24 investigative journalist. Carl,

23:40

good afternoon to you. So who

23:42

is behind this ex -account? Good

23:45

afternoon, Mandy, and thank you for having

23:47

me. Yes. So Twatterbass, Because I count that

23:49

anyone who has spent any time on

23:51

X in those circles will know or would

23:53

have seen at some point it's owned

23:55

by a gentleman named Sebastian Uster. He's a

23:57

46 year old man who lives in

23:59

Gordon's Bay and who used to be a

24:01

farmer for the past year or so.

24:03

He is actually no longer a farmer. So

24:06

how exactly did you work this out?

24:10

Yes, a couple of things mostly. He

24:12

posted quite a lot of information about

24:15

himself, biographical and geographical information that you

24:17

know he attempted to obscure in some

24:19

way or another but it enabled us

24:21

to first of all place a location

24:23

on a family farm that he tweeted

24:25

about that the family owned up until

24:27

2007 and then through deeds officer records

24:29

we were actually able to ascertain his

24:31

name and the current properties that his

24:33

father and his mother actually owned because

24:35

he himself has never actually owned any

24:38

property just as far as we can

24:40

see. So he seems to

24:42

be running a four -star guest house

24:44

in Gordon's Bay. You went to go

24:46

and speak to Sebastian Uster. What did

24:48

he say to you? Well,

24:50

he denied vehemently that he was behind

24:52

this Twitter account and even gave

24:54

an undertaking to assist me to find

24:56

the person behind the account. He

24:58

told me that he suspected that it

25:01

was one of his friends who

25:03

are, I quote, being naughty, using

25:05

information from WhatsApp groups and his old

25:07

Facebook page to pretend to be him.

25:09

And then, of course, a few days

25:11

later, after we had sent written requests,

25:14

written questions to him for comment, just

25:16

to be clear about what we're saying, his

25:18

attorney then actually responded and confirmed that

25:20

the account did belong to him. I

25:23

suppose the response would be, well,

25:25

has he done anything illegal? What

25:27

is the concern around what he's

25:29

doing? So the concern

25:32

is twofold, Mandy. Number one, we

25:34

were able to see that Elon

25:36

Musk, the billionaire owner of X,

25:38

is one of the subscribers to

25:40

this account, and that

25:42

is obviously very important. In March this

25:44

year, a post by Yerster through

25:46

his Tuatari Bar's account was picked up

25:48

by Musk, and then directly picked

25:50

up by Donald Trump and posted on

25:52

his Truth Social page. So

25:54

there's that direct link to the White

25:56

House. Secondly also, Mr. Yerster has, in

25:58

my belief, made himself guilty of blatant

26:01

racism. We highlight a number

26:03

of examples in the story that are

26:05

for reasons of being a decent

26:07

human meaning I cannot repeat on radio

26:09

exactly what he said, but the

26:11

posts were deemed by us and through

26:14

legal advice to be, you know,

26:16

inherently racist. Carl, thank

26:18

you very much. Carl Cowan, News

26:20

24, investigative journalist speaking to us.

26:22

There you go and have a

26:24

read of that story about the

26:26

influence of this Twitter account, who

26:28

is behind it and the racist

26:30

tropes that are being disseminated there.

26:32

What are your thoughts on that

26:34

in the world of social media?

26:36

It's amazing how influential one person

26:38

and a phone can be. Let's

26:47

get an update on the

26:49

fires around Tokai. Now Jermaine Korosso,

26:51

City Fire and Rescue Spokesperson

26:53

joining us now. Jermaine, good afternoon

26:55

to you. Thank you very

26:57

much for your time. What is

27:00

the latest status of that

27:02

fire around Silver Mine and Tokai?

27:04

Good afternoon, Jermaine. Thank you for having

27:07

me on your show. Yes, the latest

27:09

would be The fire is

27:11

mostly extinguished on the boys' drive side,

27:13

close valley, and we're too excited. We

27:16

had the concerns of a fire

27:18

line, two fire lines creeping towards Chapman's

27:20

Peak, but when we did the

27:23

reconnaissance this morning, it was overcast and

27:25

it started to drizzle. I think

27:27

that was a 30 % coming through

27:29

for us, and we were extremely hopeful.

27:31

Until we drove back via Okarabsevech

27:33

to Kaysat, actually the area where the

27:35

fire started. So there's a

27:38

vast area there that is

27:40

still smouldering. the majority of

27:42

hotspots with various ground crews

27:44

still active with firefighting into

27:46

the clean and constantia area

27:48

as well. So

27:50

the areas of concern then,

27:52

how are you dealing with it?

27:55

Yes, no, no, no, we've got ground crews there. Ourself,

27:58

30 firefighters, NCC,

28:00

Volunteer Wildfire Services and obviously Table

28:02

Mountain National Box. The choppers were

28:04

grounded after an hour and a

28:06

half of water bombing certain areas

28:09

due to the visibility, but

28:11

I think hopefully they will

28:13

be released again to do

28:15

some good water bombing in

28:17

those inaccessible areas for us.

28:20

In terms of the areas that

28:22

have been evacuated, you had evacuated

28:24

around 200 or so, what is

28:26

the current status of that? Yeah,

28:29

those were the people that

28:31

stayed in Neurotic Manor, that's a

28:33

gated community just at the

28:35

bottom of O 'Cops. So they

28:38

all back into their homes, that

28:40

danger was averted and because

28:42

they were evacuated as a precautionary

28:44

measure. OK. Jermaine,

28:47

thank you so much for

28:49

that update. Jermaine Carlson, city fire

28:51

and rescue spokesperson speaking to

28:53

us there about the situation. As

28:55

he said, the drizzle helping

28:57

somewhat that was forecast today. But

28:59

those concerns around some of

29:02

the hotspots as well. So we'll

29:04

keep monitoring that situation for

29:06

you. What's

29:08

up, Mandy? On 072 -702

29:10

-1702. Hi, Mandy. This is

29:12

Chris. Chris here. I'm

29:14

in Joe, on his back.

29:17

So, we, Mahanga, says

29:19

that the government

29:21

doesn't or may not

29:23

have money to

29:25

renovate these buildings. But

29:28

then, on the

29:30

contrary, he may

29:32

be saying, or

29:34

he's saying, the private

29:36

sector have got

29:38

money to can renovate

29:40

or maintain their

29:42

buildings. And in that

29:44

process, now the government

29:46

goes and hire and rent

29:48

out these buildings. So

29:51

they can use the money

29:53

that they hire out

29:55

to maintain and repair the

29:57

government buildings. I think

29:59

in effect it's something to

30:01

do with that. Yeah,

30:04

I think a lot of concern

30:06

around the maintenance of those buildings and

30:08

how exactly they are going to

30:10

explain that. Thank you for the WhatsApp

30:12

voice notes around that forensic investigation

30:14

that is being done. And while those

30:16

buildings aren't just better maintained, could

30:19

there be some kind of better association

30:21

with the private sector as well?

30:23

So we'll keep following that. 1246

30:32

on the midday report. So

30:34

we have been waiting for the

30:37

police to give us an

30:39

update on the search for three

30:41

police officers, those three police

30:43

constables that have gone missing. The

30:45

police have just issued a

30:47

statement now, so officially from the

30:49

police saying that the SA

30:51

Police Service confirms that its investigation

30:54

has brought it to the

30:56

Hennops River in Centurion along the

30:58

N1. We have three bodies

31:00

so far whose identities are yet

31:02

to be confirmed. We are searching for

31:04

another body and for any other

31:06

evidence that will assist us in concluding

31:08

the case of the missing police

31:10

officers. The National Commissioner of

31:12

the Police, General Masimola, will provide

31:15

an update to the nation later

31:17

this afternoon. EWN reporter Oren Singh

31:19

is on the scene for us.

31:21

Oren, good afternoon to you. Thank

31:23

you very much for your time. Can

31:26

you give us an update and

31:28

what is happening there where you are

31:30

right now? Good afternoon,

31:32

Mandy. Look, a lot of police present

31:35

here along the N1 highway, just

31:37

near a bridge going over the

31:39

Hinox River. Just the

31:41

National Police spokesperson at Linda

31:43

Marte arrived, and various

31:45

generals are on scene, quite

31:48

a massive and extensive operation

31:50

taking place here. Now, yesterday, Mandy,

31:53

what we understand happened is just

31:55

about seven to 10 kilometers down

31:57

river from where we are. Two

31:59

bodies were recovered, a

32:01

bat of a male and a female. And

32:04

those bodies were sent for DNA and

32:06

the relevant testing to be done. Police

32:09

are still searching for one more

32:11

body, as well as the vehicle that

32:13

those three officers from the few

32:15

states were traveling in. So

32:17

I just want to cross now live to Newsroom Africa.

32:19

Linda and Marta is speaking to the media. So

32:21

let us just listen in there and then we'll come

32:23

back to you, Arun. For

32:26

us, the

32:28

National Commissioner for the National Police

32:30

has sent a team to

32:32

fetch the families of these three

32:34

police officers. It's

32:37

not easy for us. Our

32:40

investigation is ongoing, but

32:42

we have not

32:44

yet identified who these

32:46

three are. There

32:49

are still processes that are underway.

32:52

Fingerprints being taken, DNA

32:54

and so on. That's

32:58

all I can say for now. So

33:02

at Linda Marte, the police

33:04

spokesperson busy speaking to the

33:06

media I can see behind

33:08

her, there are forensic officers

33:11

in full gear preparing to

33:13

do the investigations that they

33:15

need to do. So she's

33:17

saying there that they have

33:19

not confirmed the identities at

33:21

the stage. What

33:23

do we know about that scene

33:25

and the vehicle and the

33:27

bodies that have been found? So

33:31

as far as we know right

33:33

now, Mandy is that we know

33:35

for sure that two bodies were recovered

33:37

yesterday, that of a male and that of

33:39

a female, down to what they had

33:41

been wearing via our sources. We

33:44

know that the vehicle in which

33:46

we're traveling in a white VW polo

33:48

was initially reported to have been

33:50

recovered downriver from where we are this

33:53

morning, but then that information coming

33:55

back is negative. They're still looking

33:57

for the vehicle. We know

33:59

that there was heavy rains

34:01

last week. These members were traveling

34:03

from Blomfontein. Two of them

34:05

are crime intelligence members. The other

34:07

one's from Vispol, the Vispol

34:09

unit within SAPS. They had been

34:11

deployed to Lumpol for an

34:13

operation, and they were traveling from

34:15

Blomfontein. They went missing in

34:17

the early hours of Wednesday morning,

34:19

Mandy. They lost known location,

34:21

and this was taken via CCTV

34:23

camera footage, via Sanreal, was

34:25

at the Chasmir toll plaza. After

34:27

that, investigators couldn't pick up

34:29

where their vehicle was. And

34:31

only up until yesterday when two bodies

34:33

were recovered, and this brought them to

34:35

where they are currently on the N1

34:37

highway, searching for another body as well

34:39

as that vehicle. Oren, thank

34:42

you very much. Oren Singh, EWN reporter

34:44

on the scene there. Let's just go back

34:46

to Aklende Marte, who's taking questions right

34:48

now. It's not easy. But

34:51

we need closure as

34:53

an organization. We

34:55

also need to provide the families with

34:58

closure. So

35:00

that is where we are with our

35:02

investigation. The families

35:04

are on their way. We

35:08

made meals for them to travel

35:10

here. They are not

35:12

traveling alone. They

35:14

are with our employee health and

35:16

wellness unit. We've got our chaplains

35:18

that are with them. We've

35:21

got our social

35:23

workers. So

35:27

that's Aklenda Maite, who is

35:29

visibly emotional on the scene there.

35:32

Near the Henobs River, three bodies

35:34

have been found in the Henobs

35:37

River police saying at this stage

35:39

that they have not been positively

35:41

identified. But this is

35:43

part of the search for

35:45

the missing police constable,

35:47

Shoh Aklenda Maite, wiping away

35:49

tears there as she

35:51

speaks to journalists. We'll keep

35:53

following that story for

35:55

you. 702 the midday report

35:57

Monday to Friday 12

35:59

to 1 p .m. So

36:01

while we keep watching that

36:03

development from the Pretoria

36:06

High Court dismissing an interdict

36:08

application by Black Forum

36:10

SA and Izwi Labantu Forum

36:12

to suspend the appointment

36:14

of five trustees to the

36:16

IDT Board, that's the

36:18

Independent Development Trust Board, the

36:20

Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean

36:22

McPherson reacting to that, welcoming the decision,

36:25

describing it as a triumph for

36:27

ethical governance, and vital step in his

36:29

mission to reform the corruption -tainted state

36:31

-owned industry. You know that this has

36:33

been the focus of all kinds

36:35

of smear campaigns and allegations as well.

36:37

The Minister of Public Works and

36:40

Infrastructure, Dean McPherson, joining me now. Minister,

36:42

good afternoon to you. Thank you

36:44

very much for your time. Thanks,

36:47

Mandy. Great to be with

36:49

you and my thoughts and prayers

36:51

with the families and loved

36:53

ones of those three police officers

36:55

this afternoon. Minister, thank you

36:57

very much for that. Your

36:59

reaction to this judgment by

37:01

the Pretoria High Court? The

37:04

acting judge, Mandy,

37:06

was scathing in her

37:08

assessment of the

37:11

application and awarded punitive

37:13

costs because it

37:15

was an abuse of

37:17

the court's time

37:19

where they effectively wanted

37:21

to say that On

37:24

the one hand, they wanted

37:26

to participate in the appointments

37:28

of the acting trustees, which

37:31

they weren't entitled to. But

37:33

when they were entitled to do

37:35

so in the public they

37:37

thought of appointing permanent trustees

37:39

from the 5th of July. And

37:43

the judge took a very

37:45

dim view on that. The

37:47

judge also reasserted and reaffirmed

37:50

the position that I had

37:52

taken in appointing these five

37:54

people that they were done

37:56

entirely in line with the

37:58

trust of deed for the

38:01

IDT. But what's become clear,

38:03

Mandy, is that this followed

38:05

hot on the heels, as

38:07

you said in your introduction,

38:10

of a smear campaign, fake

38:12

WhatsApps, fake voice notes,

38:15

trying to imitate

38:17

myself, all to try and

38:19

protect alleged

38:21

corruption and mill administration

38:23

in the entity after

38:26

we started investigating the

38:28

800 million rand oxygen

38:30

plant tender. So I

38:32

see it in that light, but I'm

38:34

very glad that the court saw

38:36

through the smoke and mirrors, awarded

38:39

those punitive costs and said

38:41

that we are on the right

38:43

track and have backed the

38:45

process. The

38:47

IDT, the Independent Development Trust,

38:50

it's a state -owned entity. It's

38:52

responsible for managing social infrastructure

38:54

projects, select schools and clinics

38:56

on behalf of the government.

38:59

What's at stake here? Why

39:01

has this become such

39:03

a flash point of allegations

39:05

and smear campaigns and

39:07

court cases? What

39:09

do you believe is behind this?

39:12

It's a very good question, Mandy. And

39:15

maybe if someone had told me

39:17

about this before coming into government,

39:19

I might have thought about it

39:21

twice. The realities of governing, right?

39:24

But here we are. And it's

39:26

important that we clean it up

39:29

because the IDT has a responsibility

39:31

to deliver social infrastructure to the

39:33

poorest communities in our country, from

39:35

clinics to schools and to other

39:37

forms of social infrastructure. And

39:39

the reality is that they handle billions

39:41

of rents worth of infrastructure

39:43

projects. And I don't

39:46

need to re -prosecute or re -go into

39:48

some of the allegations that have been

39:50

made, but clearly all is not well. And

39:53

it seems that a number of

39:55

individuals have a lot to lose. And

39:57

so there have been all

39:59

manner of tactics employed, including,

40:02

unfortunately, bringing in members of

40:04

the media to write this

40:06

fictitious articles about me creating

40:08

these fake WhatsApps. And now

40:10

you see in those, and

40:12

in fact, a very clever

40:14

journalist showed that they had

40:16

got the sequencing the wrong

40:18

way around. And

40:20

I don't expect it to stop. So

40:22

we've got to push forward, and

40:24

we won't back down. I've

40:26

already said that this, unfortunately, has

40:29

created safety issues for myself. But

40:31

we're not going to stop because

40:33

we owe it to the people

40:35

of South Africa to deliver social

40:37

infrastructure on time and on budget

40:39

and not to have our entities

40:41

sort of overshadowed by scandal and

40:43

claims of my administration. Minister,

40:46

thank you so much. Minister Dean

40:48

MacPherson, the Minister of Public Works

40:51

and Infrastructure reacting there to that

40:53

court judgment. Minister, thank you for

40:55

that. Apologies for cutting you short.

40:57

But we are joined on the

40:59

line now by Brigadier Atlende Maite,

41:01

who is on the scene where

41:03

those three bodies have now been

41:05

found along the Hennops River. Brigadier,

41:07

thank you very much for speaking

41:10

to us. I realise a very

41:12

difficult time. I was watching your

41:14

press conference. We took some of

41:16

it live. I realise you're very

41:18

emotional at the moment. But just

41:20

for clarity, firstly, what can

41:22

we confirm? What exactly do we

41:24

know at this stage? A

41:27

very good afternoon, Mandy

41:29

and Chalice. We can

41:32

confirm three bodies that

41:34

were found. Two

41:36

were found yesterday, where

41:39

we found... Reynolds,

41:42

I think it was Reynolds

41:44

Kangoo Penal Van along the

41:46

banks of the Kennobs River.

41:50

And then this morning,

41:52

first thing we found

41:54

another body. We are still

41:56

searching for the fourth body. We

41:59

are still searching for the

42:01

vehicle that these police officers

42:03

were utilizing. We

42:05

are still here to confirm whether

42:07

it is them. We still have

42:10

to go through the necessary DNA.

42:12

The member, it's day six today.

42:15

We need to confirm whether it's them, those

42:18

processes. But

42:20

we are taking that thing, the

42:23

prints from the mortuary and DNA

42:25

just to confirm. General

42:27

Fanima Samula has

42:29

also ensured that

42:31

the families are

42:33

such, are flowing

42:35

in from Lundfonte so

42:37

that he, explain

42:40

what has happened and what we

42:42

have found so far. And

42:44

that they too, if indeed

42:46

the DNA comes positive, he can

42:49

be able, sorry,

42:52

he can be able, they can

42:54

be able to identify our

42:56

members. So that is where our

42:59

investigation is. It has brought

43:01

us along the N1 in the

43:03

Nops River. We,

43:05

like I've indicated, we are still searching

43:07

for the, the

43:09

vehicle that they were utilizing

43:12

to travel from Lumpan train.

43:14

Brig, you mentioned a fourth

43:16

body or fourth person that

43:18

you're looking for. There were

43:20

three that went missing. So

43:23

do you suspect there was

43:25

another person somehow involved here? Maybe

43:29

by the look of things,

43:31

we are still confirming whether they

43:33

were involved in an accident. or

43:35

what exactly happened, we are

43:38

still investigating. But

43:40

we would like to

43:42

thank the team that

43:44

has been working on

43:46

this place for not

43:48

resting, for really working

43:50

hard and for really

43:52

doing for our colleagues

43:54

and for doing it for their families

43:56

because we all need a soldier. When

44:01

you are part of the SAPS, we

44:03

work as a family. You'll see in every

44:05

police vehicle, there are always children. So

44:07

we work in pairs and we work as

44:09

a family. And something like this happens, it

44:12

touches all of us because we work

44:14

as a team. So

44:17

it is a sad day

44:19

in big, but... We

44:22

are going to be confirming later

44:24

this afternoon. General Faneem Asimullah will

44:26

be confirming later this afternoon after

44:28

he consults the family. We

44:30

were meant to keep the news,

44:32

you know, for the family. We

44:35

are going to wait for the

44:37

family to arrive. But unfortunately, media

44:39

is media and it can't, you

44:41

know, keep quiet. So we need

44:43

to then control the narrative also.

44:45

you know, and that's to minimize

44:47

misinformation and the fake news that

44:50

will be being peddled. Brigadier,

44:52

I appreciate you speaking to us at

44:54

this difficult time. Our condolences, although

44:56

that's not yet confirmed, our thoughts

44:58

are with you as the police.

45:00

So I appreciate that. I realize

45:02

a very, very difficult time for

45:05

you, Brigadier. Atlenda Marte, the national

45:07

police spokesperson. So we'll keep following

45:09

that story for you as well

45:11

about what is happening with those

45:13

three missing police officers.