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

Making headlines: Mixed reactions at Ramaite's appointment as acting head of prosecutions; First Marikana massacre memorial lecture to be held in Johannesburg; And, liberation icon Veronica Sobukwe has died

 

Mixed reactions at Ramaite's appointment as SA's acting head of prosecutions

There were mixed reactions yesterday, after the appointment of Silas Ramaite as acting National Prosecuting Authority boss.

President Cyril Ramphosa announced Ramaite will temporarily take over the reins of the NPA after the Constitutional Court on Monday upheld a high court ruling declaring Shaun Abrahams's appointment invalid. Ramaphosa was given 90 days to appoint a permanent NPA head. 

The Democratic Alliance’s Glynnis Breytenbach said that Ramaphosa's choice of acting National Director of Public Prosecutions did “not bode well for restoring the independence of the NPA".

Breytenbach said that Ramaite has in the past sat idly by while successive NDPPs and Acting NDPPs, including Mokotedi Mpshe, Menzi Simelane, Nomgcobo Jiba and Shaun Abrahams "systematically destroyed the fabric" of the NPA and South Africa’s criminal justice system. 

 

First Marikana massacre memorial lecture to be held in Johannesburg

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union will today host the inaugural memorial lecture commemorating the slain Marikana mineworkers.

The memorial lecture would be held at the Sandton Convention Centre, in Johannesburg, and Western Cape High Court Judge President John Hlophe is expected to deliver the lecture.

The lecture is part of activities lined up ahead of the sixth anniversary of the Marikana massacre, on Thursday, in Marikana near Rustenburg, in the North West.

Thirty-four mineworkers were killed on August 16, 2012 at Lonmin’s Marikana operations, when the police shot them at a koppie near Nkaneng informal settlement. Seventy-eight were injured and hundreds arrested. 

The workers, led by rock drill operators, had waged a week-long wildcat strike demanding a minimum monthly salary of R12 500.

 

And, liberation icon Veronica Sobukwe has died

Liberation icon Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe (91) has died, the Pan Africanist Congress said today.

The PAC said the widow of its party founder, Robert Sobukwe, passed away in the early hours after a long illness.

It said in a statement that it was with great sadness that they woke to the sad news that they had lost an icon of the liberation, Mma Sobukwe.

 

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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