Johannesburg – Public protector Thuli Madonsela says it was a mistake handing over the provisional report on Nkandla to the security cluster ministers and that her gesture “in good faith” had been abused.

According to the Sunday Times, Madonsela said she would be guided only by the constitution and her conscience and that she was prepared to go to jail if needs be. She said the original agreement had been that the security cluster ministers would send a team to go through security issues. At no time would this team see the whole report.

She said she now realised the report should never have gone to the ministers.

It emerged last week that Madonsela implicated President Jacob Zuma directly in her report on the state’s spending of R206m at Zuma’s private Nkandla estate. Zuma had to date denied that the state had paid for the new homes on his estate. In an affidavit filed in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday afternoon, Madonsela for the first time said Zuma privately appointed the architect of the whole project.

This means that Minenhle Makhanya Architects from Durban, who earned more than R18m from the Nkandla project, were not appointed after a tender process conducted by the department of public works, but by Zuma himself.

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Johannesburg – Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza has urged government to respect the families of those who died in the Moloto Road accident, during funeral preparations.

“My humble appeal to all of you including government is to respect the families and understand the pain they are experiencing,” he said.

Mabuza was speaking on Friday at a memorial service for the 30 people who died in an accident on Moloto Road, near Kwaggafontein in Mpumalanga, on Monday night.

A truck drove into the back of a tipper truck, before colliding with a Putco bus and a bakkie.

Twenty-nine people died on the scene.

One of the eight critically injured died later in hospital. Twenty-two people were injured.

Mabuza assured about 2 000 people at the service that government was in the late stages of discussions about Moloto Road.

“Working together we can do more to fight road carnage and push forward the message of road safety.”

The memorial service was attended by Mpumalanga MECs, local leaders, traditional leaders and the community.

A mass funeral would be held at the Matshiding Sports Ground on Sunday morning.

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Johannesburg – One person died and three others were injured when two cars collided along the R81 near Polokwane, Limpopo, on Saturday, paramedics said.

The injured were stabilised on the scene then taken to nearby hospitals, Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said.

It was not immediately clear whether the victims were men or women.

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Johannesburg – The department of home affairs is investigating a case of mistaken death after a man was told he died last year, the Cadet News Agency reported in the Saturday Star.

The office of the deputy director general of home affairs Vusi Mkhize said a key part of the investigation was finding the person who registered the death.

“In South Africa, it is the responsibility of the next of kin or funeral undertaker to ensure that a death is registered with the regional department of home affairs,” the office was quoted as saying.

Pitso Molatuli, 28, applied for a bank loan two months ago, and after the bank ran his identity number, it discovered that he was registered as dead.

When Molatuli went to the Kempton Park home affairs department they confirmed that on their records he died on 16 November, last year, in the North West.

Molatuli was reportedly told to fill in forms and apply for a new birth certificate, but he refused.

He opened a case against the department but said he has not gone to court yet because of the investigation.

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Durban – A six-year-old boy drowned at sea in La Mercy on the Natal north coast, paramedics said on Saturday.

The boy was swimming with his friends on Saturday afternoon when he disappeared into the water. “Paramedics found a distraught crowd at the water’s edge explaining where the child was last seen. 

Divers went in and managed to find the body of the boy, he was declared dead on scene,” said Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha.

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Cape Town – A woman died and another was missing as floods ravaged across the Western Cape, police said on Saturday.

Colonel Thembinkosi Kinana said the two women tried to cross a bridge when their car was swept away in Jonkershoek, Stellenbosch on Friday.

“The ladies were on their way to church when the heavy waters swayed their car into the river.”

He said the deceased was found on Saturday.

“Divers have temporarily stopped searching for the other woman due to the heavy rain, but they will continue as soon as the water subsides,” Kinana said.

Earlier, provincial disaster management spokesperson Charlotte Powell, said 70 residents from Kays Caravan Park were placed at the Garden Village hall and 129 patients were evacuated at the Vergelegen Mediclinic in Somerset West on Friday night due to flooding.

The patients were taken to neighbouring hospitals.

The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said rescue equipment has been brought in to assist.

Photos on social media site Twitter showed nurses pushing stretchers down a hospital corridor filled with water.

NSRI spokesperson Craig Lambinon said most patients and staff had been evacuated.

The SA Weather Service said more rain was expected in parts of the Western Cape.

Areas that are at risk are the South coastal areas, George, Riversdale, Hermanus and Oudtshoorn.

The rain is expected to continue into Sunday.

Provincial disaster management spokesperson Charlotte Powell said systems were in place to ensure people were protected from floods.

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