Cape Town - As you kick start your day, Nokuthula Khwela brings you the country’s biggest stories.
In our top stories:
ANC councillors are up in arms at Drakenstein mayor Conrad Poole’s (DA) attempts to get Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to waive retirement for the council’s 65-year-old municipal manager, Johan Leibbrandt.
Leibbrandt was appointed as municipal manager on a five-year fixed term contract of employment on March 1, 2017.
His contract ended on December 1, 2021, the first calendar day of the month following his 65th birthday. Last year in the run-up to the local government elections, Poole wrote to Dlamini-Zuma, requesting a contract extension by three months to enable Leibbrandt to serve a full five-year statutory term of employment.
During advertising Leibrandt’s position, Poole said the municipality received 18 applications from the national advert and only five candidates qualified, among them Leibbrandt, who reapplied.
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West Ham defender Kurt Zouma admitted kicking and slapping his pet cat at a London court hearing on Tuesday after disturbing footage posted online by his brother caused public outrage across Britain.
The 27-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts under the Animal Welfare Act at Thames Magistrates' Court in east London.
Zouma was said to have targeted the male Bengal cat after blaming it for damaging a chair at his home.
Two cats have since been signed over to be re-homed. The court was told that the "premeditated" attack was filmed by Zouma's younger brother, lower-league footballer Yoan Zouma, 24, who sent it to a woman he was due to go on a date with.
Yoan Zouma admitted to aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring his older brother to commit an offence.
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