For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.

Making headlines: Black people can farm, public land hearing told, Cape dams half full, but too early to call for easing restrictions And, judgment reserved in Velaphi Khumalo racial slur case

 

Black people can farm, public land hearing told

Black people can farm and make productive use of the land.

This was the message from several speakers at the Constitutional Review Committee's public hearing in Welkom yesterday on the amendment of the Constitution's property clause.

A common theme among those opposing the amendment was that it would affect food security and that the land would not be productive.

Today, the CRC's delegation in the Free State is expected to head to Phuthaditjhaba for their final hearing in the province, while the delegation in Mpumalanga is expected to go to Middelburg.

 

Cape dams half full, but too early to call for easing restrictions

Cape Town's dam levels rose to 50.3% yesterday as streams and rivers swollen with rain from the weekend's intense cold front, flowed into the storage dams.

There is now double the amount of water in the city's supply dams than there was at this time last year, when the level stood at 25.1%.

Experts have warned though that the City may be jumping the gun in wanting to reduce the level of water restrictions before the end of the rainy season.

Department of Water and Sanitation spokesperson Sputnik Ratau, said the lifting or relaxing of the water restrictions would be decided by "the reality on the ground" in October.

 

Judgment reserved in Velaphi Khumalo racial slur case

Judgment has been reserved in the Equality Court case between the South African Human Rights Commission and Velaphi Khumalo over racial slurs made on Facebook.

Judge Roland Sutherland, sitting in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, heard arguments from the parties and said he would assess the evidence before giving judgment.

Khumalo's representative, Stuart Wilson, argued that a practical, common-sense approach was required in the case.

Khumalo posted his comment on Facebook in January 2016 saying he wanted to cleanse the country of all white people, after a much publicised incident in which former estate agent Penny Sparrow referred to black people as monkeys in a rant about litter on the beach.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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