Traditional leaders to assist in fight against GBV in communities

Traditional leaders to assist in fight against GBV

In an effort to combat gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa, a partnership has been launched between traditional leaders and ministries within the country’s justice cluster.

Launched during Women’s Month, the partnership is set to be the first of its kind involving the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

UNODC representative Jane Marie Ongolo said during the launch in Polokwane, Limpopo on Wednesday that they hope traditional leaders will act as a close link to communities in helping to increase the number of cases being reported in their areas.

Speaking to Sowetan Live, she said: “It is necessary to link traditional leaders to the justice system to be able to more effectively deal with perpetrators. Additionally, female traditional leaders have the potential to help create ‘an enabling environment’ for increased reporting, referral, and support of gender-based violence cases”.

Post Office worker dismissed over theft of unclaimed Sassa funds

An employee from the South African Post Office has been dismissed for the alleged theft of unclaimed South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) funds, fraud, perjury and forgery.

Thirty-six-year old Cole Lee Fortuin, who worked at the Lavis Town post office in Bishop Lavis, allegedly forged false entries into his work registers.

He stated that uncollected Sassa funds had been collected by a security company and deposited into the Post Office bank account.

Police spokesperson Frederick van Wyk said an initial investigation into the case found that the suspect was employed to manage the day-to-day administrative duties.

“The suspect is alleged to have taken R200 000 Sassa funds which, had not been collected in May 2022. The funds were to be returned to the Post Office bank account and to be collected by the relevant private security company,” he said.

Stage 2 loadshedding expected for Wednesday and Thursday

Eskom has announced that Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented on Wednesday and
Thursday from 4pm to midnight.

The power utility said the delay in returning a generation unit to service at Arnot, Koeberg and the Kusile power stations, as well as the unplanned outage of a generation unit each at Camden, Medupi and two units each at Grootvlei, Hendrina and Majuba power stations, had exacerbated the capacity constraints.

The City of CT will be on stage 1 between 5pm and 7pm.

Batgirl movie scrapped by Warner Bros Discovery

The new Batgirl movie has been scrapped by Warner Bros Discovery just months before
its planned release.

Reportedly budgeted at more than $70m, it was due to be shown in cinemas and on the streaming service HBO Max in December.

The New York Post reported that the decision had followed a poor reaction to test screenings, however, Warner Bros said the move reflected its “leadership strategic shift”.