Daily Podcast – December 05, 2017

5th December 2017 By: Sane Dhlamini - Creamer Media Senior Contributing Editor and Researcher

Daily Podcast – December 05, 2017

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa
Photo by: Reuters

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.
Making headlines: Ramaphosa wins the ANC nomination race, Government 'fails' in DA's 2017 report card  And, South Africa commemorates struggle icon Mandela 

 

Ramaphosa wins the ANC nomination race

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is leading the nominations for the ANC presidency with all nine provinces having completed their provincial general councils.

Ramaphosa is now standing at 1 861 branch nominations, while his rival Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has 1 309.  

This gives him a 552 branch nomination lead, however, the figure excludes 223 Mpumalanga branch nominations that wrote “Unity” next to the name of the top six delegates.

However, Ramaphosa’s biggest challenge is that Dlamini-Zuma has the support of the biggest provinces who are sending more delegates to the fiercely contested conference.

 

Government 'fails' in DA's 2017 report card

State capture casts a pall over the DA's dim assessment of President Jacob Zuma and his Cabinet for 2017.

In what had become a yearly ritual, the DA presented their report card – "an appraisal of the ANC national government’s performance over the past year" – at the Union Buildings yesterday. 

DA leader Mmusi Maimane said this year "will go down in history as one of the most disconcerting years in our young democracy, as the ANC-led national government stooped to new lows in their abuse of power, excessive looting, and shameless execution of state capture without a hint of restraint".

The DA gave their lowest possible grade, an F, to 18 of the 37 members of the executive, including Zuma.

 

South Africa commemorates struggle icon Mandela

Today marks the fourth anniversary of the death of South Africa's revered former president Nelson Mandela.

A series of events have been organised to commemorate the late struggle hero.

Mandela died aged 95 at his Houghton home in Johannesburg after undergoing extensive treatment for a lung infection.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation will today launch an exhibition called "Unthreading Mandela", part of a project ahead of the centenary celebrations of Mandela's birth next year.


That’s a roundup of news making headlines today
To keep in touch with the news while you are on the move, visit m.polity.org.za