February,22 2017.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Madiba.

Making headlines:
Former ANC branch secretary says Molefe's membership forms are fake
Zuma says SS Mendi victims loved peace and justice
And, SABC inquiry says broadcaster rebuffed TNA media's outsourcing bid

A former North West ANC branch secretary yesterday claimed Brian Molefe was never a member of a ward in the province.

Christine Malula, former branch secretary in the Madibeng region, said that Molefe’s membership has never been found and that he had never participated in branch general meetings.

Malula was a secretary of the branch when Molefe is said to have applied for and renewed his ANC membership.

She was speaking hours after regional leadership, members of the ANC Youth League and members of the ANC provincial executive committee produced what they said were Molefe’s membership forms

 

President Jacob Zuma said yesterday that the more than 600 black men who were killed when the SS Mendi sank, died believing their contribution to World War I would lead to the better treatment of blacks in South Africa,

Tuesday marked 100 years since the SS Mendi sank. The British government had chartered the ship as a troop carrier. On February 21, 1917, it was carrying 823 members of the fifth battalion. They had completed 34 days of the voyage from Cape Town to England, and were on their way to France.

A much bigger ship, the SS Darro, which was bound for Argentina, collided with the SS Mendi in the English Channel, almost cutting it in half.

 

Parliament’s ad hoc committee heard yesterday that the New Age Media made a number of proposals to the South African Broadcasting Corporation in 2011 to outsource some of its news production, but the deals were rebuffed.

According to submissions to the committee, the Gupta family-owned business confirmed that proposals were made to handle "a variety of areas" in the SABC newsroom to "narrow the urban-rural divide". The agreements were either never signed or a line managers rejected them.

TNA refuted claims that it ever "instructed" certain SABC employees to sign a newspaper distribution deal for The New Age newspaper.

This was according to TNA’s written responses to evidence former SABC employees gave to Parliament's ad hoc committee in December.

 

Also making headlines:
Top ANC MP Khoza promoted to new committee
And, MPs given 7 days to explain failure to submit financial interests

 

For a news update each morning, register for Polity’s free daily newsletter

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today