Making headlines: DA says Zuma and son must testify at inquiry; Lawyer says Mahlangu has not brought closure to affected families; And, Mnangagwa says thinking along racial lines is outdated

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Madiba.
 
DA says Zuma and son must testify at inquiry

The Democratic Alliance says President Jacob Zuma and his son Duduzane must testify at the State capture inquiry, now that the terms of references have been released.

Zuma's terms for the inquiry were finally published and released in the Government Gazette yesterday.

In it, he wants the inquiry to investigate all forms of government corruption, including allegations against him, his Cabinet ministers, the Gupta family and State-owned entities.

The DA said it was time for Zuma and those close to him be held accountable to the public.

DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach said in a statement that for years, President Zuma has been trying to frustrate efforts to hold him accountable.

Lawyer says Mahlangu has not brought closure to affected families

In the three days that former Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu has testified, she has not brought closure to the families of 143 mentally ill patients who died after they were moved from Life Esidimeni facilities to various NGOs, a lawyer said yesterday.

Advocate Dirk Groenewald, for Solidarity, told Mahlangu that her evidence in the Life Esidimeni arbitration hearing was important but she had failed to bring closure to those affected.

Groenewald added that for the past three days, Mahlangu claimed not to recall most of the events that happened during the Life Esidimeni project.

During her final day of testimony Mahlangu said she believed that what happened to the families was "regrettable".

And, Mnangagwa says thinking along racial lines is outdated

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa says his new government believes that thinking along racial lines is "outdated" when it comes to farming and land ownership.

The president says white Zimbabwean farmers left on the land had integrated "happily" into the country's new farming system, albeit on smaller land holdings.

Mnangagwa told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland yesterday that his government does not want to think along racial lines – that there are white farmers and black farmers. That should be a philosophy of the past.

There are thought to be between 300 to 400 white farmers left in Zimbabwe, down from around 4 000 before former president Robert Mugabe launched the land reform programme 18 years ago.

Also making headlines:
Themba Maseko, the only person to submit a written complaint about the Guptas to the African National Congress in 2016 when party members were given the opportunity to do so, says he will avail himself to testify in a commission of inquiry into State capture if called on.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today
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