Daily podcast – July 31, 2015

31st July 2015 By: Leandi Kolver - Creamer Media Deputy Editor

Daily podcast – July 31, 2015

Photo by: Reuters

July 31, 2015.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Leandi Kolver.
Making headlines:

The ANC resolves to rush ahead with the final report on Nkandla.

Plane debris found on a remote island points to a breakthrough in the MH370 mystery.

And, South Africa’s deputy president arrives in Lesotho as part of a peace brokering process.


The Democratic Alliance has hinted that it would challenge Police Minister Nathi Nhleko’s Nkandla report in court after the African National Congress majority on the ad hoc parliamentary committee rejected calls by the opposition to call witnesses, including Public Protector Thuli Madonsela.

The ANC easily voted down a proposal that Madonsela be called to discuss her report on the R246-million upgrade of President Jacob Zuma’s rural home. This was in the same manner that the Police Minister was given another chance this week to walk the committee through his conflicting report.

A visit by the committee to Zuma’s rural home last week saw opposition MPs agree that despite its cost, the project had fallen woefully short of providing effective security for the president.


A Malaysian official and aviation experts said that plane debris that washed up on the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean is almost certainly part of a Boeing 777. This is potentially the biggest breakthrough in the search for missing Flight MH370.

Malaysian investigators are expected in Reunion on Friday and the object, which was identified by aviation experts as part of a wing, would then be sent to a French military laboratory near Toulouse for checks.

National carrier Malaysia Airlines was operating a Boeing 777 when the ill-fated flight disappeared in March last year en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, creating one of the most baffling mysteries in aviation history. It was carrying 239 passengers and crew.

The plane piece was found on Wednesday washed up on Reunion, a volcanic island of 850 000 people that is a full part of France, located in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar.


South African deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa touched down in Maseru, the Lesotho capital, yesterday to broker peace in the mountain kingdom.

During his visit, Ramaphosa is expected mainly to brief key political and other stakeholders on the terms of reference for the establishment of the SADC-led commission of inquiry into recent developments in the country.

Ramaphosa was deployed as facilitator of the peace and stability process by the Southern African Development Community after three opposition leaders fled the country last month.


Also making headlines:

Former Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa boss Lucky Montana has laid fraud charges against two executives and a board member of the state-owned company, as well as two directors of a private security company.

Britain risked a "xenophobic response" to the migrant crisis in the French port of Calais after Prime Minister David Cameron promised to deport more migrants who enter Britain illegally.

Eritrea has urged the UN Security Council to help bring human traffickers to justice after claiming that smuggling groups, and not human rights abuses, were causing an exodus of migrants to Europe.

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That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.