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

Making headlines: Health MEC Bandile Masuku and wife Loyiso asked to 'step aside' amid corruption probe, Cele says the law he contravened allows him to nominate IPID head and, Batsa papers submit Dlamini-Zuma is playing 'smoke and mirrors' with constitution

Health MEC Bandile Masuku and wife Loyiso asked to 'step aside' amid corruption probe

The ANC in Gauteng has asked Health MEC Bandile Masuku and his wife, City of Johannesburg shared services MMC Loyiso Masuku to "step aside" from duties, along with President Cyril Ramaphosa's spokesperson Khusela Diko.

This follows the allegations of corruption over the R125-million personal protective equipment tender awarded to King Madzikane II Diko's Royal Bacha projects.

The party's provincial secretary Jacob Khawe said the provincial executive committee had resolved that the trio must take a leave of absence while the ANC's integrity commission investigated claims that had been made against them in the media.

Cele says the law he contravened allows him to nominate IPID head

When questioned about the independence of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, Police Minister Bheki Cele relied on a law he had contravened for four months.

Democratic Alliance MP Andrew Whitfield said IPID has to be well-resourced and independent - but "today it cannot be said that IPID is truly independent and it cannot be said that it is well-resourced."

He said the "police abuses" during the lockdown are cause for serious concern.

Whitfield said IPID's independence is compromised due to the "intimate role" Cele plays in nominating the candidate, and the fact that he himself served as police commissioner.

Batsa papers submit Dlamini-Zuma is playing 'smoke and mirrors' with constitution

The North Gauteng High Court ruling that upheld South Africa's four-month-old ban on tobacco sales was patently wrong and not binding on the Western Cape division, British American Tobacco SA has argued in its final court papers filed in parallel challenge to the prohibition.

The country's biggest cigarette maker said its case was about the standard of justification the state had to make when it took a decision that brought limited benefit and great harm.

Batsa argues that regulation 45, gazetted by cooperative governance minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma under the Disaster Management Act to ban cigarette sales in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, violated the constitutional rights of all participants in the tobacco value chain.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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