May 06, 2016.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.
Making headlines:

Residents form patrol groups to protect schools from rampaging protestors in Vuwani.

Thuli Madonsela calls for clear separation between state and party.

And,  ANC says opposition's boycott of Parliament is a 'publicity stunt'.

Villagers in Vuwani in Limpopo have taken to spending sleepless nights trying to protect their schools from rampaging mobs, this as the number of schools torched or damaged rose to 23.

The violence comes after Vuwani residents lost a high court bid to have their area reinstated under the Makhado Municipality last Friday.

Community member Cassius Ngobeni said they heard that people were moving in the evening, burning schools.

Ngobeni was part of a group of Bungeni residents who had resolved to sleep at the community’s school gates because they wanted to protect their schools. A recent attack to burn the school with a petrol bomb failed.

The destruction had been slammed by everyone from President Zuma to political parties and advocacy groups.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela says a clear distinction should be made between activities and initiatives by government and those of the ruling party.

Speaking to reporters in Pretoria yesterday, Madonsela said she had found the minister of social development in 2009, Edna Molewa, and employees from the SA Social Security Agency (or Sassa) had violated ethics as well as the Constitution when they allowed Sassa food parcels to be distributed by then-ANC Youth League president, Julius Malema, during a political event.

She said Minister Molewa's request to have food parcels arranged for her for distribution during an event that was organised by the ANCYL was a violation of the Constitution and therefore constituted improper conduct.

Madonsela had released two reports titled 'State and Party Colours' and 'State and Party, Blurred Lines'.

The reports followed investigations into conflation between the ruling party and the state during the 2011 elections as well as the irregular distribution of food parcels by the ANCYL in 2009 through Sassa.

 

The opposition's boycott of President Jacob Zuma's reply in Parliament on Thursday was a "laughable publicity stunt" driven by "mob psychology", the ANC chief whip's office said.

This was after the DA, Cope, the UDM, FF+, EFF, the Pan African Party, the ACDP and NFP boycotted Zuma's reply to Wednesday's debate on his budget vote.

Most EFF MPs were suspended after being thrown out when they did not want Zuma to speak on Wednesday.

Yesterday, the DA, Cope, UDM, FF Plus, NFP, PAC, ACDP and EFF benches in the National Assembly were empty after they decided that they would not attend the session.

Also making headlines:

Director of the Centre for Energy and Security Studies in Moscow, Anton Khlopkov said African countries had major nuclear ambitions.

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That’s a roundup of news making headlines today