October 13, 2015.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.
Making headlines:

ANC criticises the Public Protector for joining the Consitutional Court case over Nkandla.

Experts says earlier bed delivery could have halved Sierra Leone Ebola outbreak.

And, Communications Minister Faith Muthambi stands her ground on digital migration.

The African National Congress (or ANC) said Public Protector Thuli Madonsela lacked wisdom and was risking the impartiality of her office by filing papers with the Constitutional Court in the case brought by the Economic Freedom Fighters (or EFF) on the Nkandla controversy.

The office of ANC chief whip Stone Sizani said the Public Protector’s decision to legally align herself with a political party, regardless of whether it broke any law or not, was ill-advised and unfortunate and had the potential to fundamentally dent the chapter 9 institution’s reputation as an institution that was politically impartial.

Madonsela earlier this month submitted an affidavit to the court which could see her become an amicus curiae in the case in which the EFF is seeking to force President Jacob Zuma to reimburse the state a portion of the funds spent on upgrading his Nkandla homestead.

Madonsela made clear that her position was not one of either supporting or opposing the EFF’s argument, but that she had an interest in how her report and her powers were interpreted.

The case is expected to be heard in February next year.

Supplying beds for Ebola patients to health facilities in Sierra Leone saved tens of thousands of lives by isolating patients, but providing them just one month earlier could have halved the number of reported cases.

The delivery of nearly 3 000 beds by Britain, Sierra Leone and aid agencies between September 2014 and February this year prevented 57 000 Ebola infections and 40 000 deaths, according to experts at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (or LSHTM).

Yet, the study found that introducing the beds one month earlier could have reduced the number of reported cases by 7 500 - more than half the 14 000 cases recorded in the West African nation by the World Health Organisation.

The world's worst recorded Ebola outbreak had infected more than 28 000 and killed 11 300 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since it began in December 2013, and is only now coming under control.

Communications Minister Faith Muthambi has denied reports from a news agency that the ruling African National Congress (or ANC) has discussed a reversal of South Africa’s digital migration policy.

Earlier this year, Muthambi’s department made amendments to South Africa’s digital broadcasting policy to ensure that up to five-million subsidised set-top boxes didn’t require encryption technology. 

Muthambi said in a statement that the ANC National General Council never discussed a possible reversal of the Broadcasting Digital Migration Policy as reported in the Business Day and Business Report on Monday.

Muthambi’s stance on encryption is similar to that of the South African Broadcasting Corporation and MultiChoice - two organisation that have said encryption would add extra costs to manufacturing set-top boxes.

Also making headlines:

South African Airways said the Democratic Alliance’s “insinuation” of political interference over its New Age spend was “deeply concerning”.

The bid to have the appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng as the SABC's COO set aside would be heard in the Western Cape High Court today.

And, political parties slammed the ruling party over it’s NGC resolution that South Africa withdraw from the International Criminal Court.

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That’s a roundup of news making headlines today