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

Making headlines:ConCourt dismisses Zuma's bid to force Maya to reconsider his special plea; National Assembly adopts Expropriation Bill; And, Ebola kills five in Uganda

 

ConCourt dismisses Zuma's bid to force Maya to reconsider his special plea

Former president Jacob Zuma has failed to convince the Constitutional Court that Mandisa Maya, the former head of the Supreme Court of Appeal, grossly misdirected herself by refusing to reconsider his bid to force the removal of prosecutor Billy Downer from his corruption trial.

The apex court unanimously dismissed Zuma's argument that Maya - who President Cyril Ramaphosa has since appointed as the deputy chief justice - grossly misdirected herself when she found there were no exceptional circumstances justifying the reconsideration of her court's dismissal of Zuma's challenge to a ruling that Downer had the legal standing to prosecute him.

Zuma had also asked that the Constitutional Court grant him leave to appeal Judge Piet Koen's dismissal, in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg, of his special plea to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

While stating that it had not decided whether Maya's decision was, in fact, appealable, the country's highest court said it had "concluded that it would not be in the interests of justice to grant leave to appeal" Maya's decision, given that Zuma would be entitled to seek leave to appeal Koen's decision "to this court".

Zuma is due back in court on 17 October.

 

National Assembly adopts Expropriation Bill

The National Assembly has adopted the controversial Expropriation Bill, which would allow no compensation to be paid to landowners under certain circumstances.

However, the Democratic Alliance, Economic Freedom Fighters, Inkatha Freedom Party, Freedom Front Plus and African Christian Democratic Party objected to the bill. The DA proposed amendments to the bill, but couldn't muster the votes required to effect the changes to the bill.

Introducing the bill, Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille said expropriation wasn't unique to South Africa.

She said the ability of governments to acquire or expropriate land for the public good is something that is found worldwide.

If enacted, the bill would replace an apartheid-era law that does not allow for nil compensation to be paid or expropriation in the public interest.

 

And, Ebola kills five in Uganda

Five people have died from Ebola in Uganda and another 19 deaths were likely caused by the disease, the president said on Wednesday, but he said he would not order a lockdown because Ebola is easier to manage than Covid-19.

The outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever was announced last week, triggering fears of a major health crisis in the country of 45-million people. There is no vaccine for the Sudan strain of the disease behind the latest Uganda infections.

In a televised address President Yoweri Museveni said that in addition to five confirmed Ebola fatalities, another 19 deaths in the community were likely due to the disease as they displayed similar symptoms but samples were not taken from them to confirm this before their deaths.

 

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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