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

Making headlines: Ramaphosa signs controversial Electoral Amendment Bill; Zuma launches fresh bid for Downer's removal, corruption case postponed to August; And, Magudumana's father granted bail, while she remains in custody with co-accused

Ramaphosa signs controversial Electoral Amendment Bill;

South Africa has a valid Electoral Act again after President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Electoral Amendment Bill.

The Presidency announced today that Ramaphosa signed the Bill, which allows independent candidates to contest national and provincial elections.

The Bill gives effect to a Constitutional Court judgment that was handed down on 11 June 2020. The apex court declared the Electoral Act unconstitutional "to the extent that it requires that adult citizens may be elected to the National Assembly and provincial legislatures only through their membership of political parties".

But it suspended the declaration of unconstitutionality for "24 months to afford Parliament an opportunity to remedy the defect giving rise to the unconstitutionality".

Zuma launches fresh bid for Downer's removal, corruption case postponed to August;

Former president Jacob Zuma has used his private prosecution against Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan as a basis to again seek the State advocate's removal, leading to the postponement of his corruption case to August.

In the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg today, Judge Nkosinathi Chili ordered that the case, in which Zuma and French arms company Thales are accused, be postponed to 15-16 August, when the former president's lawyers and the State's legal representatives will argue over Downer's continued prosecution of Zuma in the trial.

While Zuma had tried and failed to use Downer's alleged role in the "leaking" of court papers containing a sick note as a basis for his removal in a "special plea" application, he has based his latest case on the fact that he is seeking to privately prosecute Downer and this writer for alleged violations of the National Prosecuting Authority Act. He maintains that Downer's continued presence in this trial will amount to a violation of his rights to a fair trial.

Zuma further argues that Downer's efforts to have his private prosecution set aside as an "abuse of process" aimed solely at further delaying his already very delayed trial is further evidence that the career prosecutor is conflicted.

The former president has also sought to blame the NPA and Downer for the delay his latest application has caused.

And, Magudumana's father granted bail, while she remains in custody with co-accused

Zolile Sekeleni, the father of Dr Nandipha Magudumana, was granted R10 000 bail in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court today.

Sekeleni and his co-accused - Magudumana, former G4S employee Senohe Matsoara, and camera installer Teboho Lipholo - are accused of helping convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester escape from Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein in May 2022.

Bester is also charged in the matter and appeared in the dock alone on Friday. He will return to court on 16 May.

The magistrate agreed to postpone the case to 3 May, when Magudumana, Matsoara and Lipholo will return to court. The case has been set down for two days.

It's understood that the three accused may follow Sekeleni and apply for bail next month.

During proceedings, it was also revealed that Lipholo had been convicted for stock theft in 2007.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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