August 4, 2015.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.
Making headlines:

The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance derides the Minister of Transport Dipuo Peters’ report on statistics showing an increase in e-toll collections.

Burundian activist Pierre Claver Mbonimpa was shot amid violence tied to the contested presidential vote.

And, unstable national carrier South African Airways gets another acting CEO.

The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (or Outa) has derided Minister of Transport Dipuo Peters’ report on statistics showing an increase in e-toll collections.

According to Outa, Peters' comparison of e-toll collections for May and June with the preceding seven months was misleading. 

Outa chairperson Wayne Duvenage said in a statement that when comparing revenue growth and business performance, it was important to equate that to the same period last year, as well as to the original targets.

Outa categorically states that any attempt to talk the e-toll numbers up as a result of May and June’s e-toll revenues at 78-million-rand is “nothing but a farce,” he said.

According to the statistics released by Peters, payments for May were 76-million-rand and for June 78-million-rand. Furthermore, payments ranged from 45-million-rand in January to 68-million-rand in March.

Meanwhile, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the monthly cap for e-toll fees would be "dramatically reduced" from R450 a month to R225.

 

A prominent Burundi human rights activist who openly opposed President Pierre Nkurunziza's controversial bid for a third term in office was shot and seriously injured on Monday.

Pierre Claver Mbonimpa was shot by motorcyclists a day after Nkurunziza's former security chief was ambushed and killed.

Burundi has been in chaos since late April when Nkurunziza announced he would seek a third term in office, a move that his opponents and Western powers said violated the constitution and a peace deal that ended an ethnically charged civil war in 2005.

Nkurunziza called for calm after that attack, saying security forces needed to be strengthened to prevent future killings and he pleaded with Burundians "not to fall in trap of revenge".

Management instability continues unabated at South African Airways (or SAA).

The airlines human resources general manager Thuli Mpshe has now been appointed to run the airline on a temporary basis and a dispute rages over the validity of the renewed contract of CFO Wolf Meyer.

Mpshe’s appointment comes as much as a surprise as the sudden departure of previous acting CEO Nico Bezuidenhout last week.

While the SAA board was required to inform it’s shareholder – the Treasury – when it appointed an acting CEO‚ this has not been done.

Questions to SAA about Mpshe’s suitability for the position in light of her skills set and SAA’s intractable financial and strategic difficulties remain unanswered. SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali however has confirmed her appointment.

Also making headlines:

The Democratic Alliance has come out in support of an independent inquiry into the management of the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services.

State-owned South African National Roads Agency Limited is undertaking 32 projects, totalling R2.2-billion, in the Eastern Cape, this year.

And, Madagascar’s poltical mess-ups keep the tourist 'paradise' marooned.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter [@PolityZA]

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.