Latest news with #R130
The Citizen
16 hours ago
- The Citizen
6, including Gauteng Hawks officers, arrested for alleged theft of money during police raid
Four police officials attached to the Hawks' Serious Organised Crime Investigation (SCI) in Gauteng and Gauteng provincial SAPS were arrested with two civilians on charges including fraud and corruption. All six suspects are expected to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court today, where they are facing charges of theft, possession of suspected stolen money, extortion and corruption. The arrests were effected by members of the Hawks' SCI team in Johannesburg. Yesterday afternoon, the complainant in the matter alleged that he had received a phone call from one of his employees informing him that police officers were at his shop. It's reported that the complainant instructed his employee to request the police to wait until he arrived. However, shortly after the conversation between the complainant and his employee, the call was disconnected. The complainant then made his way to the shop, but it was closed. He then went to Johannesburg Central Police Station, where he was informed that his employees were arrested for contravention of Section 9 of the Currency Act, Act 9 of 1933. The employee he had a conversation with was also arrested for interfering with police duties. The arrest of the four police officials and two civilians came after the complainant reported the matter to the Hawks' SCI. He alleged that the police officials took R900 000 from his shop while conducting their operations. When following up on the information, the Hawks discovered that only 60 000 Unites States dollars and R130 000 was booked into the SAPS register as the amount recovered by the police, instead of booking the entire amount of R900 000. It is further alleged that the suspect, who was at the shop to exchange the money in question, also tried to entice the police officials with R60 000, which was also booked in the SAPS register. After conducting a preliminary investigation, the Hawks' SCI followed up on the information and proceeded to Newtown, where they located the police officials involved in the alleged theft. The alleged corrupt officials were found in several vehicles, which were searched, and a substantial amount of cash was found in one of the vehicles. As a result, the four police officials and two civilians were arrested on the scene. Meanwhile, the other six suspects, who are charged with contravention of Section 9 of the Currency Act, will also appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court today. 'The Hawks remain resolute in their commitment to uproot corruption, even within the ranks of law enforcement. No one is above the law. 'The arrest of these officers is a clear demonstration that we will act decisively and without fear or favour to protect the integrity of the criminal justice system and restore public trust in the SAPS,' said the acting national dead of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, Lieutenant General Siphosihle Nkosi. – Breaking news at your fingertips… Follow Caxton Network News on Facebook and join our WhatsApp channel. Nuus wat saakmaak. Volg Caxton Netwerk-nuus op Facebook en sluit aan by ons WhatsApp-kanaal. Read original story on At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
Eyewitness News
a day ago
- Business
- Eyewitness News
City Power customers to pay more for electricity as new tariff hike takes effect
JOHANNESBURG - City Power customers in Johannesburg will be paying more for electricity from Tuesday as new tariffs come into effect. The new changes, approved by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA), introduce an average of a 12.41% increase for the 2025/2026 financial year. Poor and low-income households are exempt from paying the increased service. Spokesperson Isaac Mangena said while the average approved increase is 12.41%, the actual increase will vary based on usage and tariff structure. 'So, the residential prepaid low tariff is designed to basically support indigent customers who remain exempt from paying the R70 service charge and also R130 network capacity charge, which in total, sits at around R200. This ensures continued relief for the most vulnerable customers in the current economic climate.'
TimesLIVE
a day ago
- Sport
- TimesLIVE
Spending R300k on coaching badges a good investment: Mayambela
After recently obtaining his Uefa A licence through the Irish Football Association, former Orlando Pirates fan darling Mark Mayambela has revealed he's forked out at least R300,000, equipping himself with coaching badges. 'It's been a good journey, an expensive journey, but it's worth it. I've spent about R300,000 to get all the coaching qualifications I have,' Mayambela. 'For this Uefa A licence, I spent about R130,000, which includes visas, flights and accommodation in Europe. It's a two-year programme and each year you pay more than R40,000.' The retired dribbling wizard, who nowadays is a youth coach at Cape Town City, insists that getting all the coaching qualifications was worth every penny. Mayambela also disclosed they split all the costs of his coaching badges with his younger brother and Bafana Bafana winger Mihlali, who plies his trade with Cypriot club Aris Limassol, barring the CAF C licence that was paid by the SA Football Players' Union (Safpu).
IOL News
2 days ago
- Business
- IOL News
Tshwane's Boshielo dismisses DA's claims of increased power outages as electioneering tactics
City of Tshwane MMC for Utility Services, Frans Boshielo, responds to DA accusations about increased power outages in Tshwane, citing scheduled maintenance and neglect by previous administrations as the cause. Image: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Media Frans Boshielo, Tshwane's Member of the Mayoral Committee for Utility Services, has dismissed the DA's claims that the city is experiencing more power outages than during load shedding as nothing more than electioneering tactics. This follows DA finance spokesperson Jacqui Uys' statement that her party met with Tshwane officials amid widespread and ongoing power outages across the city. She said: 'Ineptitude and poor workmanship have caused continuous power outages across the City of Tshwane, with the city now seeing more power outages than during load shedding.' Uys said the coalition government's decision to prohibit officials from working on emergency power outages after hours has exacerbated the situation. She was referring to the new overtime policy, which restricts after-hours work and aims to cut excessive overtime payments while supposedly maintaining critical services. The city has previously denied that the policy, which took effect on April 1, would harm service delivery or lead to prolonged power outages due to limited staff availability outside regular hours. Uys said: 'While the administration cites cost control as the reason, a report presented to the city's finance committee revealed that R130 million in electricity revenue was lost in April alone, primarily due to power outages.' She cited an example of planned maintenance over the weekend, which was scheduled for four hours and affected most of eastern Pretoria. She claimed that the project was a failure, had to be rescheduled, and still left residents without power for up to 24 hours due to poor workmanship and problematic overtime rules. 'The DA supports the responsible management of overtime, and that work that needs to get done in office hours is done in office hours. It cannot be business as usual in case of emergencies where entire communities are left in the dark at a cost to both residents and the city,' Uys said. Reacting to the claims, Boshielo said: 'That statement by the DA is electioneering, they know for a fact that the City of Tshwane has published scheduled maintenance that needed to be done for the electrical network.' According to him, outages are not comparable to load shedding, and the issue stems from the outages needed to connect the Njala/N4 power lines, which affected the eastern part, as the network had to be switched off upstream to allow energisation. 'The fact of the matter is that this current administration communicated through official portals which the DA councillors are part of and instead of preparing the affected ward, they want to score cheap political points,' he said. He explained that before the current administration took office, the substations had been plagued by vandalism, theft, and inadequate maintenance budget allocation. In contrast, he said, the current administration has increased the maintenance budget, enabling scheduled maintenance, unlike under the previous DA administration led by former mayor Cilliers Brink. 'The withdrawal of static security personnel by the DA administration exposed the city's infrastructure to vandalism and theft. Illegal connections of electricity are also contributing to electrical network overload and tripping, but the current outages, as I have said, do not surpass load shedding, as the DA alleged,' Boshielo said. [email protected]
The Citizen
25-06-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
Disturbing survey reveals borrowing now a lifeline in SA
Two-thirds of South Africa's credit-worthy consumers who took part in a Debt Rescue survey stated that they cannot repay their debt. Disturbing results from a new survey of credit-worthy consumers show that borrowing has now become a lifeline for many South Africans as they become unable to repay their debts due to macroeconomic pressures beyond their control. Neil Roets, CEO of Debt Rescue, says that disturbing insights from the survey show that 41% of respondents indicated they defaulted on their credit cards over the past year, while 30% missed payments on retail store accounts. 'Credit cards and store accounts are the two most commonly used forms of credit for day-to-day expenses because they are existing facilities consumers have access to. They are now becoming increasingly unaffordable while providing the only lifeline for many consumers.' In addition, the survey outcomes show that 24% of people polled also defaulted on their personal loans, with 31% of respondents attributing this to unexpected expenses and 21% to loss of employment. ALSO READ: Most South Africans use personal loans to make ends meet 50% of respondents cannot afford necessities Roets says underlying this escalating debt crisis is the inability of half of the respondents (50%) to afford basic necessities such as food, electricity, or fuel due to a lack of available funds, with a full 50% saying they had to turn to credit to buy food, electricity, or fuel in the past 12 months. 'This points to the widespread financial distress many South African households find themselves in, due to economic pressures which have seen living costs skyrocket over the past few years while there has been very little in the way of financial relief in terms of interest rates, cost of living and tax reductions. '65% of the respondents said current economic conditions are significantly affecting their ability to repay debt,' he adds. South African consumers are drowning in debt with no easy way out and the new Eighty20 XDS Credit Stress Report for the first quarter of 2025 confirms this, showing that middle- to high-income earners are feeling the pinch as well. ALSO READ: This is how SA consumer class is cutting costs South Africans unable to repay loans even after borrowing more Statistics from the report paint a grim picture, with figures showing the alarming increase of R130 billion (5.3%) in loan balances from 2024 to 2025 and an increase of R25 billion (13.7%) on overdue loan repayments. This extends to home loans with overdue payments up by 21.5%, while there has also been an alarming surge in credit card debt which is up by 8.7% from 2024 and of the 350 000 new credit users, 53% have already missed payments. 'These numbers reflect the reality of life right now for millions of South Africans who are unable to keep up with paying their rent, car payments, groceries and school fees, while they are defaulting on all sources of debt and credit. This is not a case of overspending on luxuries but simply a means to financially get by,' Roets warns. He has been sounding the alarm for well over a year now. He says the elephant in the room is, of course, the many millions more who do not qualify for credit and are hanging on by a very thin thread, with the latest statistics showing that 25% of the population now live below the food poverty line according to the World Bank and over 30 million people living below the upper-bound poverty line of approximately R1 634 per month. ALSO READ: What does the future hold for the youth? Most 24-year-olds in debt 62% of South Africans living in poverty According to ISS Africa, figures for South Africans living in poverty have hovered around 62% in recent years, and on the current growth trajectory, this is set to inch down marginally to 60% over the next decade. Roets says this is largely the result of escalating food, energy, water and fuel costs, driven by an economy in deep trouble, which has led to the current unsustainable unemployment level of 32.9% of the population. 'It is only possible to reduce unemployment with a rapidly growing economy and the figures showing economic growth of just 0.1% in the first quarter of 2025 fail to inspire much hope. 'While 27% of people polled by Debt Rescue said they are compelled to take on part-time jobs or freelance work to increase their income – simply to meet the monthly needs of their families and themselves, many are simply unable to extend their working hours to accommodate earning an extra income and taking on debt becomes the only other alternative.'
