Flash Briefing: Ramaphosa’s ‘red-tape’ team; NPA insists Zuma will stand trial; Mantashe/Shell’s leave to appeal denied

• President Cyril Ramaphosa says reducing red tape will benefit businesses and unlock investment. He’s defending his decision to appoint a red-tape team, led by former Exxaro CEO, Sipho Nkosi. During his State of the Nation Address, Ramaphosa said this red-tape team would be used to make it easier for businesses to do business. Meanwhile, Ramaphosa also told MPs that he refuses to respond to some of the criticism levelled against him during this week’s SONA debate. He says the focus should be on constructive criticism from MPs, not on insults about his attire. Ramaphosa responded to questions on last week’s address. 
• The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) says it will “resist” further delays in the long-awaited corruption trial of Jacob Zuma and French arms company Thales – and stressed that “despite any appeals, the matter must proceed”. The NPA expressed this a day after Judge Piet Koen in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg dismissed all six applications Zuma launched to challenge the legitimacy of his corruption prosecution – and ordered that the case against him and Thales should proceed on 11 April 2022. In a 61-page ruling, Koen reiterated what the NPA previously argued, that Zuma did not have the legal right to appeal the dismissal of his “special plea” challenge to State advocate Billy Downer’s title to prosecute him now. After citing multiple court rulings, Koen said it was clear that such an appeal could happen only if and when Zuma was convicted of the arms deal corruption he is accused of.
• The High Court in Makhanda has dismissed Shell and Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe’s application for leave to appeal a ruling that temporarily halted a seismic survey off the Wild Coast. The interim interdict remains in place. Judge Gerald Bloem made the ruling on Thursday. The application was dismissed with costs. Shell and the minister had applied for leave to appeal Bloem’s December ruling, which blocked the seismic survey, pending a hearing – set down for 30 May – that will challenge the oil company’s environmental authorisation. Given the arguments brought before him, Bloem said that he is of the view an appeal would have no reasonable prospects for success.

(Visited 1,498 times, 1,388 visits today)