News snippets from around the world.

South Africa holds state funeral for Archbishop Desmond Tutu

The funeral mass for South African anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu has taken place at the Anglican Cathedral in Cape Town. Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who helped end the racist regime in South Africa, died on 26 December 2021 aged 90. In his eulogy, President Cyril Ramaphosa described Tutu as “the spiritual father of our new nation”. Tutu had insisted there should be no ‘lavish spending’ on the funeral and that he wanted ‘the cheapest available coffin’. https://www.bbc.com/

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson fighting to save job over Covid party scandal

Despite the country being under a strict coronavirus lockdown in 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson attended a ‘bring your own booze’ party with dozens of staff members in the garden of his No. 10 Downing Street residence and office. Johnson apologised last Wednesday in the House of Commons as he fought to save his leadership from a growing scandal around a number of reported parties he and his staff held during Covid lockdown. https://www.nbcnews.com/

State collapse and other risks threatening South Africa over the next two years: WEF

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has published its global risks report, detailing some of the key risks facing South Africa over the coming years. The forum said that Covid-19 and its economic and societal consequences continue to pose a critical threat to the world at the start of 2022. “Vaccine inequality and a resultant uneven economic recovery, risk compounding social fractures and geopolitical tensions. In the poorest 52 countries – home to 20 percent of the world’s people – only six percent of the population had been vaccinated at the time of writing. https://businesstech.co.za/

It’s imperative that South Africa moves fast on state capture prosecutions

South Africans now face another moment of accountability. This follows the release of part 1 of the report of the Judicial Commission into State Capture led by deputy chief Justice Raymond Zondo. Media reports suggest overwhelming agreement that the well-detailed and comprehensive report must be followed up to hold accountable those linked in the report to rampant corruption during the reign of former President Jacob Zuma. Indeed, President Cyril Ramaphosa has described the first part of the Zondo Commission’s report as a ‘defining moment’ in the country’s effort to restore government’s integrity, credibility and capability. But will it happen? Can South Africans really expect a different outcome this time? https://www.thesouthafrican.com/

Time to make ecocide an international crime

In December 2021 in The Hague, the governing body of the International Criminal Court (ICC) held its annual meeting. The most substantial development, however, was not on the official agenda and did not involve the U.S., China, or other major powers. It happened instead at a designated ‘side event’ hosted by the Republic of Vanuatu and the Independent State of Samoa. There, a new international crime was defined: ecocide. “The time is right to harness the power of international criminal law to protect our global environment,” argued Philippe Sands, cochair of the expert panel that drafted a legal definition of ecocide. The panel defines ecocide as ‘unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.’ If enacted, this law would be a substantial preventative measure in stopping some of the world’s worst climate abuse. https://www.openglobalrights.org/

SANDF members to continue patrols

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that the SANDF (South African National Defence Force) deployment across the country will continue until March this year. Despite 2,700 soldiers continuing their deployment across the country, however, Cape Flats residents say they won’t make much of a difference. Murder and other violent crime increased over the Festive Season, and residents say much more needs to be done, especially regarding witness protection after they have testified.

Federal agencies warn of Russian hackers targeting critical infrastructure

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, FBI and National Security Agency released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory last Tuesday detailing cyber operations sponsored by the Russian state, including commonly used tactics, techniques and procedures. The advisory also outlines detection actions, incident response guidance and mitigation measures.

https://thehill.com/

South Africa’s Ramaphosa says ANC needs renewal to regain support

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has said that the governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), must work to regain popular support after being embroiled in corruption scandals and divided by bitter factional rivalries. Marking the ANC’s 110th anniversary last Saturday, Ramaphosa struck a sombre note, emphasising that the party of Nelson Mandela, which helped South Africa achieve democracy, has lost voter backing. “We must be forthright in recognising, and deal decisively with, the reality that ANC structures are in a poor state,” Ramaphosa said. “Many of them are focused on internal organisational conflicts, factionalism and furthering the self-interest of individual leaders rather than the aspirations of communities they are meant to serve.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/

Artificial intelligence carries a huge upside but potential harm needs to be managed

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have the potential to contribute to the resolution of some of the most intractable problems of our time. Examples include climate change and pandemics. But they have the capacity to cause harm too. And they can, if not used properly, perpetuate historical injustices and structural inequalities. To mitigate against their potential harms, the world needs frameworks for the governance of data that are economically enabling and that preserve rights. Artificial intelligence and machine learning operate on the basis of massive datasets from which algorithms are programmed to discern patterns. These patterns can be used to infer new insights and also predict behaviour and outcomes. Increasingly, artificial intelligence and machine learning are being used to substitute human decisions with automated decision-making on behalf of humans… Yet, it all happens in a black box that even the designer of the algorithm may not have access to, so deciding what goes into the box is important. https://theconversation.com/

Fifth Covid-19 wave will definitely arrive in SA but it will be less severe, the Health Department believes

South Africans should brace themselves for more Covid-19 waves, but the good news is that indications are that the worst is over as future variants are likely to be less severe. The National Department of Health and experts have not given an indication of when the fifth Covid-19 wave is likely to hit, with Health Department spokesperson Foster Mohale saying it is just too early to predict.

https://www.iol.co.za/

South Africa’s corruption busters: short-changed on funding and political commitment

In his 2021 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, the country’s finance minister Enoch Godongwana warned that rampant corruption was a persistent issue draining public finances. At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, South Africans witnessed how corruption further exacerbated the unprecedented disruption to their education, employment, entrepreneurial pursuits and other opportunities for advancement. In September 2021, South Africa’s Special Investigating Unit (SIU) told Parliament that R14.8 billion, associated with Covid-19 spending from April 2020 to June 2021, was being investigated for procurement irregularities. https://theconversation.com/

Europol ordered to delete petabytes of data not clearly linked to crime

Europol, the law enforcement agency of the European Union, has been ordered to delete a huge store of personal data gleaned from police agencies in EU member states over the past six years. The deletion order comes from the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), a watchdog body overseeing EU institutions’ compliance with privacy and data protection legislation. EDPS has given Europol a year to review its databases and then remove any data that cannot be linked to a criminal investigation. The total volume of data stored in Europol’s systems amounts to around 4 petabytes according to reporting in The Guardian – equivalent to hundreds of billions of pages of printed text – and includes data on at least a quarter of a million current or former terror and serious crime suspects, along with other people in its contact networks. https://www.theverge.com/

Massive electricity price hike on the cards for South Africa

South Africa faces a hefty electricity price hike in April this year, despite ongoing load shedding and energy production concerns surrounding Eskom. The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) invited stakeholders to comment until Friday 14 January on Eskom’s proposed tariff increases for the country. Eskom chief

financial officer Calib Cassim has confirmed that the state-owned power utility has applied for an electricity price increase of 20.5 percent for its 2023 financial year, set to take effect from 1 April 2022. https://businesstech.co.za/

Taxi organisation launches campaign in Tshwane to help stop crime against students

Students making their way to Pretoria to start their first-year courses must be aware of criminals operating around their campuses and the inner city. This was the warning issued by the SA National Taxi Council (SANTACO) in Tshwane, which has launched an initiative to make new students aware of criminals targeting unsuspecting people. SANTACO’s Tshwane chairperson, Abner Tsebe, said that the local taxi branch has launched a campaign called Tlhokomela (Be Alert) to make prospective students aware of crime in the city. Tsebe said that the taxi industry was working in conjunction with lawenforcement agencies such as the SAPS (South African Police Service) and the metro police.

https://www.iol.co.za/

COJ to revive Operation Buya Mthetho to address hijacked buildings and crime

COJ (City of Joburg) says it will revive Operation Buya Mthetho to address hijacked buildings, illegal dumping and illegal water and electricity connections, along with other crimes plaguing the city centre. The multi-disciplinary team involves officials from the JMPD (Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department), SA Revenue Service (SARS), Home Affairs and other law enforcement agencies. Community Safety MMC David Tembe said that the problem was much bigger than abandoned high-rise buildings in the CBD. “One looks at Berea, one looks at Yeoville, even Houghton has been hijacked, and we need to audit and make sure that they are being restored to the rightful owner,” Tembe said.

https://ewn.co.za/

Pinsent Masons hires corporate crime and forensic investigations partner in South Africa

Multinational law firm Pinsent Masons has hired partner Edward James to bolster its corporate crime and investigations capabilities in South Africa. Joining from South African-headquartered firm ENSafrica, James will work predominantly with the firm’s global energy and infrastructure sectors and will enhance the firm’s forensics, criminal investigations, and compliance capabilities in Africa. Edward is a leading corporate crime and investigations specialist advising clients on compliance, fraud, bribery and corruption, corporate espionage, anti-money laundering, cyber breaches and economic sanctions. He has advised clients across a broad range of industries in Sub-Saharan African jurisdictions including Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. https://www.pinsentmasons.com/

New digital ID system for South Africans

The current National Population Register is set to be replaced by the new NIS system. According to BusinessTech, the system will effectively act as a single source of information for all South Africans. “The department is in the process of implementing a single integrated source of biographic and biometric information — to make digital service deliver a seamless reality.” The current disparate civic and immigration systems will produce secure data that will feed into the NIS according to an identity management policy and an updated identification act,” stated a source. Issuing of birth, marriage and death certificates will now be digital. The adjudication of permits and visas will also be done digitally. https://www.thesouthafrican.com/

State capture report: will Dudu Myeni be arrested?

one of the state capture report highlights serious inefficiencies in the country’s state-owned entities. The report lays bare what happened at the national carrier SAA (South African Airways) and its subsidiaries. It also shows how SAA board chair Dudu Myeni got involved in operational matters when she had no business to do so. It is clear from part one of the state capture inquiry report that state capture was alive in South Africa.

https://www.enca.com/

39 Northern Cape schools vandalised over the festive season

The provincial department of education in the Northern Cape says at least 39 schools were vandalised over the festive season. The department says assessment on the magnitude of the damage is still under way ahead of the reopening of schools in the province

https://www.sabcnews.com/

City of Cape Town offering R5,000 reward for information leading to arrests of train vandals

The municipality will pay whistleblowers R5,000 if it leads to the positive identification and arrest of those responsible for the stoning of a new train set. The incident took place on its first day of operation in the Steenberg area last week. The City of Cape Town said that the vandalism of critical infrastructure was unacceptable, even if it was perpetrated by young people who thought stoning trains is ‘fun’. Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said the city had been without a well-functioning rail service for too long and far too many Capetonians suffered as a result. https://ewn.co.za/