South Africa, World
While you were sleeping: 17th January 2017
Istanbul nightclub attacker arrested, Uganda deny M23 incursion, and the last man on the moon passes away.
Tuesday, 17th January 2017
“There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
STORY OF THE DAY
SASSA’s deafening silence on April 1 readiness for monthly R10-billion grant handover
By MARIANNE THAMM
With only two months to go before the contract with Cash Paymaster Services (CPS), which distributes a monthly R10-billion worth of vital social grants to 17-million South Africans, expires on March 31, the Department of Social Development has not made any public announcement on the South African Social Security Agency’s proposed April 1 takeover. Instead, Minister Bathabile Dlamini’s spokesperson, Lumka Oliphant, has been hogging headlines for an expletive-ridden Facebook post in defence of her minister. Meanwhile, on Friday January 13, SASSA quietly hosted a “request for information” briefing in Pretoria where interested parties were rushed through a presentation.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
Turkish authorities have arrested the jihadist who they believe killed 39 people at an Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s eve. State media identified the 34-year-old as Abdulgadir Masharipov, and he was labelled a member of an Asian branch of Isis. Masharipov was arrested in Istanbul while with his four-year-old son.
Ugandan officials have denied that any M23 rebels being hosted in their camps travelled across into the DRC and mounted attacks. The DRC government maintains that 200 rebels have taken over a village in Kivu. There is currently a contingent of South African soldiers in the region acting as part of MONUSCO. Perhaps it’s time for a patrol.
US astronaut Eugene Cernan has died aged 82. Cernan was the final astronaut to set foot on the moon, commanding the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Nasa and other agencies have issued messages of sympathy, with Cernan’s death marking a month since the death of fellow astronaut John Glenn.
Mugabe’s death-predicting priest arrested
A Zimbabwean pastor has been arrested for predicting Robert Mugabe’s death. Pastor Patrick Mugadza stated his belief that Mugabe would die in October. This being Zimbabwe and thus no place for such clairvoyance, Mugadza was arrested and charged with “insulting people of a certain race or religion”.
IN NUMBERS
16,000
The amount, in dollars, spent on an auctioned sword in a Chinese video game.
FACT OF THE DAY
Today in 1929 Popeye the Sailor Man made his debut. Uh hyuk hyuk hyuk!
“Facetiously” and “Abstemiously” are the only two English words containing all vowels in order.
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