Ekurhuleni budget passes – finally
Ekurhuleni has passed a budget for 2026/27 of R74.3 billion, after three previous attempts failed. Of the total, R70.95 billion was dedicated to operational expenditure, and only R3.39 billion to capital expenditure. The Democratic Alliance claimed success in the process, including having succeeded in reducing a proposed property rates hike from 2% to 1.5%. The budget was supported by all parties except the Economic Freedom Fighters, whose relationship with the African National Congress has been a defining feature of politics in the metro. At one time holding MMC positions, it refused to join a reshuffled committee in February this year, leaving the ANC to run a minority government.
Trump dismisses Senate’s halt-the-war vote as “poorly timed, meaningless”
US President Donald Trump has dismissed the Republican-controlled Senate’s approval of a measure instructing him to halt the war in Iran or seek congressional approval before continuing military action as “poorly timed and meaningless”. A handful of Republicans joined Democrats in yesterday’s 50-48 vote. The same measure was passed by the US House of Representatives earlier this month. The measure is largely symbolic and does not carry the force of law – but is being read as a further indication of mounting scepticism about Trump’s handling of the conflict, and the peace plan. The vote marks the first time that both chambers of Congress have approved a concurrent resolution instructing a president to end a military action since the War Powers Resolution of 1973 was enacted.
Private sector, key state institutions, favour “large white law firms” – Qunta
Christine Qunta, chair of the statutory Legal Sector Charter Council (LSCC), says South Africa’s “private sector engages in discriminatory procurement policies …[as it] prefers to brief white law firms, particularly large white law firms. Those law firms, in turn, who monopolise the specialised and lucrative work, prefer to brief white advocates.” Speaking at an event in Sandton hosted by the LSCC yesterday, Qunta said that although the state did brief black attorneys and advocates, “even some SOEs [state-owned entities] – the major SOEs – still prefer to brief the large, majority white-owned firms”. These factors meant that “because … black attorneys and advocates are not exposed to specialised and complex legal work, they’re not all experienced in it, and that in itself creates a problem”. At the same event, Mziwabantu Dayimani, CEO of the National Empowerment Fund (NEF), said: “We need to continuously work on mechanisms to enforce transformation within this sector. If it is not enforced, it is not going to happen,”
Israel “deliberately” killed, harmed Palestinian children – UN report
A UN commission of inquiry says Israel has deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip, as well as war crimes in the occupied West Bank. The commission’s report alleges that Israeli authorities and security forces have “deliberately carried out acts inflicting death and severe bodily and mental harm on hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children”, and that the killings continued even after last October’s ceasefire in Gaza. Israel’s foreign ministry said it “utterly rejects” the commission’s report, calling it a “libellous sham” and “a propaganda piece as outrageous as its previous ones”.
Three convicted for Pinochet-era murder in Washington
A Santiago court has convicted three former secret police of dictator General Augusto Pinochet’s regime for the murder in downtown Washington 50 years ago of American Ronni Karpen Moffitt, a colleague of Orlando Letelier, a former Chilean minister and ambassador to the US. The car bomb they detonated killed Letelier too. Judge Paola Plaza, a special minister for human rights in Chile, sentenced Pedro Espinoza, José Zara, and Raúl Iturriaga to 15 years in prison for their roles in the killing of Moffitt, 25. All three men were agents of the Dirección Nacional de Inteligencia (Dina), Pinochet’s feared secret police which hunted down opponents at home and abroad. Espinoza and Iturriaga – who is serving a more than 500 years’ prison sentence for a string of human rights atrocities – were being held at an exclusive facility outside Santiago, but Zara had been released in August last year having completed a 15-year jail term. He has now been arrested once more. Rebecca Karpen, Moffitt’s niece, said in a statement: “These sentences are not just a victory for our family, but are a reminder that the countless lives ruined by the Pinochet regime are still being fought for, that the pain of the Chilean people will not be forgotten.” Several high-ranking Chilean military officials were sentenced in connection to the case during the 1990s, but in 2012 a Santiago appeals court ruled that Moffitt’s case must be reopened as the perpetrators were Chilean nationals.
Sources: BBC, The Guardian, News24