Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis today launched the City’s new specialised SWAT and aerial surveillance units, together with Alderman JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security.
Airlink social media posts suggest the flyover was all according to plan.
There is also a statement attributed to them floating around on social media which states everything was above board and approved by regulators. I can't find an official source for this statement though.
Credit: caspersaint_cpt on Instagram.
Appears slightly less reckless from this perspective. Still absurdly low.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has secured judgment by the Special Tribunal ordering Mr Minenhle Makhanya, the former architect and principal agent responsible for the security upgrades at former President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma’s private residence in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, to pay the National Treasury R147,269,444.06.
This amount represents the financial loss suffered by the National Department of Public Works (DPW) as a result of unlawful conduct in the project.
The judgment, delivered on Wednesday, 26 August 2026, found that Makhanya’s appointment and subsequent conduct in the Nkandla upgrades were unlawful and resulted in significant financial loss to the State.
The investigation into the Nkandla security upgrades was authorised in terms of Proclamation R59 of 2013, which directed the SIU to investigate allegations relating to the procurement of goods, works and services by DPW for the project in a manner that was not fair, equitable, transparent,
Full interview - https://youtu.be/B6I_nHzeWVg?si=OLtbdFpScP-jREst
Van Heerden’s argument, however, goes considerably further than the leadership of individual institutions.
He believes South Africa’s political economy of corruption “runs deep and long”.
While tracing some of its origins to apartheid, he stressed that this could not serve as an excuse for corruption after 1994.
Instead, Van Heerden argued that democratic South Africa underestimated one particularly powerful force.
“One of the things that we undermined at its very core was the power of money,” he said.
“We have a brilliant Constitution, we had all kinds of Chapter Nine institutions put in place, etcetera, but we simply did not bargain on the lure of money and how it will corrupt us.”
It is an argument that shifts the focus away from finding the right anti-corruption boss or creating another institution.
If corruption is embedded deeply enough in South Africa’s political economy, changing the person at the top of an agency can only achieve so much.
‘There are no heroes'
LOL. "Listen properly"
The Trump administration’s deteriorating relationship with Pretoria is quietly becoming a liability, particularly in molding the emerging international order. South Africa’s willingness to push back on claims of “white genocide,” defend its domestic Black empowerment policies, and spearhead the genocide case at the ICJ shows that South Africa has crafted an independent foreign policy identity. That middle-power positioning gives Pretoria something Washington has steadily depleted: credibility abroad, particularly in the Global South.
Amabhungane have been trying to get financial statements from the IEC for all parties who hold seats in Parliament. They want to know where the money comes from and how it is spent. A crucial question for democracy. The IEC seems keen to comply but the EFF and ActionSA are pushing back. Wonder why?
The passion is unmatched.
Yet another witness called to answer to the Madlanga commission for their alleged crimes has suddenly been hospitalised.