Here\u2019s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:<\/p>\n
South African Communist Party (SACP) general-secretary, Blade Nzimande, has called for a meeting with\u00a0alliance partners after president Jacob Zuma\u00a0ignored the party\u2019s call for him to step down<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re going to be engaging the alliance on this matter on what are the next steps now that we\u2019re going to take,” said Nzimande.<\/p>\n The Supreme Court of Appeal has agreed to hear both president Jacob Zuma and the National Prosecuting Authority’s arguments against the reinstatement of 783 criminal charges against him – on the same day<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0James Selfe, the chairman of the federal executive of the DA, said a single hearing date would ensure “that not a single day further is wasted before the SCA can make a final judgement on this matter. “Hearing the two appeals together will also minimise the waste of judicial resources.”<\/p>\n Over R14 billion in civil claims were instituted against the SAPS over the last financial year. <\/a><\/strong>The actual number of civil claims was 16\u201a000\u201a up from 2\u201a887 cases in the 2014\/15 financial year according to chairperson of the portfolio committee on police\u201a Frans Beukman.\u00a0He said that the claims were largely attributed to unlawful arrests and detention\u201a assaults and shooting incidents\u201a adding that the incidents relate to human rights violations.<\/p>\n Parliament\u2019s powers and privileges committee will investigate president Jacob Zuma’s deployment of soldiers during his state of the nation address<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0The question of why the legislature was not informed that the military would not merely act in a ceremonial role but help to maintain law and order, was raised by DA chief whip John Steenhuisen as a point of privilege in March while deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa was answering questions in the chamber.<\/p>\n South Africa’s rand extended gains against the dollar on Thursday and government bonds firmed, helped by slowing inflation and the government’s rejection of the nationalisation of mines and banks. On Friday\u00a0the rand was at R13.16 to the dollar, R16.83\u00a0to the pound, and R14.10\u00a0to the euro.<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
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