Tanzania hosts inaugural Africa plastics exhibition

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May 27, 2016

Mr Khaled Abu Makarem — Khaled Abu Makarem of Africa PPB EXPO

The first plastic, rubber, petrochemical and building materials exhibition is scheduled to take place at the Mlimani City Conference Centre in Dar es Salaam from May 27-29. The event, dubbed Africa-PPB-EXPO Tanzania 2016, will feature exhibitors and visitors from all over East and Central Africa as well as matchmaking opportunities.
Speaking during a press conference in Dar es Salaam today, Ahmed Barakat, the General Manager of EXPO ONE, the company that’s organizing the EXPO, said that ‘Africa-PPB-EXPO will be an exceptional platform to showcase latest products and give transparency to unexplored markets’.
Africa-PPB-EXPO is an Egyptian international exhibition for plastic, rubber, petrochemicals and building.
“The exhibition has been created to promote African unity through strengthening trade relations between Egypt and Tanzania as well as putting both markets on the map”, said Barakat and noted that Tanzania is the first of the series of African nations Africa-PBB-EXPO plans to cooperate with.
Aramex Africa is the official logistical partner with Africa-PBB-EXPO and will be playing a major role in providing logistics and transportation services from Egypt to Tanzania.
Through Aramex and in coordination with TanTrade and Tanzania Private Public Sector Foundation (TPSF), Africa-PBB-EXPO offers an exclusive edge to its exhibitors with a detailed database delivered once registered. The database includes all product placements within the Tanzanian market and their value with accurate import and export figures. This gives a sharper opportunity for strategic B2B meetings and successful matchmaking upon arrival.

The EXPO ONE GM called on businesses and traders to participate in the EXPO and ‘explore partnership opportunities in virgin markets and network with potential clients and peers’.
EXPO One, the organizing company, is a medium-sized exhibition and conference management firm that focuses on organizing and providing services for international trade fairs as well as promoting Egyptian pavilions in local and international exhibitions.
Other organizers include Aramex and Tanzania Trade Development Authority (TanTrade) under the auspices of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Chemical and Fertilizers Export Council, Egyptian plastic Exporters and Manufacturers Association (Epema) and the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF). Others are Kenya Private Sector Alliance and China Chamber of International trade.
Africa-PPB-EXPO’s next destination is scheduled to be Senegal followed by Angola.

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Kenya approves tougher anti-doping laws

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Agencies

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May 27, 2016

KENYAN ATHELETES — Kenyan athletes in a 1-2-3 sweep at the 2015 World Athletics Championships

Kenya’s parliament has approved changes to anti-doping legislation in the hope of avoiding a ban on its athletes attending the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

New anti-doping measures were signed into law last month but the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) later said they fell short of international standards.

MPs were recalled for special sitting yesterday to push changes through.

Kenya topped the medal table at the 2015 World Athletics Championships in Beijing with seven gold medals and if it were to be excluded from the Games, some of the world’s top athletes would miss out on medal chances.

“Sport is very critical to this country and the athletes have added a lot of value in this country in terms of marketing,” opposition MP Chris Wamalwa told Parliament.

The new legislation must be approved by the Senate before being signed into law by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Wada had demanded changes after a spate of drugs scandals involving Kenyan athletes.

Since 2011, more than 40 of its athletes have failed drugs tests.

As of January 2016, 18 Kenyan athletes were suspended for doping. The best known is Rita Jeptoo, who won the Boston and Chicago marathons.

Last November, former Wada president Dick Pound said it was “pretty clear that there are a lot of performance-enhancing drugs being used” in Kenya.

In April, Kenya introduced new criminal laws as part of an anti-doping bill, creating a national testing authority and making doping an offence punishable by imprisonment.

It was widely assumed that the measures would satisfy Wada but the agency later cited “inconsistencies” in the legislation and declared Kenya ‘non-compliant’ on May 12.

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Gbagbo wife loses sentencing appeal

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Agencies

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May 27, 2016

Ivory Coast’s former first lady Simone Gbagbo has had her appeal against a 20-year prison sentence rejected by the country’s Supreme Court.

The jail term was handed down last year for Mrs Gbagbo’s role in the violence which followed the refusal of her husband, Laurent, to accept defeat in the presidential election of 2010.

Mr Gbagbo himself is currently on trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, accused of war crimes linked to the unrest, in which more than 3,000 people were killed.

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Who will win the Uganda golden boot, Ssentongo or Ssekisambu?

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Stephen Muneza

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May 26, 2016

Just one game remains and just one goal separates the three contenders for this season’s Azam Uganda Premier League golden boot award. Robert Ssentongo is looking to win it for the forth time and second season in a row, while Erisa Ssekisambu will be hoping to be the first at Vipers.

But who will come out on top?

Robert Ssentongo

Since bursting onto the scene almost a decade ago, Ssentongo hasn’t stopped scoring. The Uganda Revenue Authority FC forward with sixteen goals to his name has led this year’s Golden Boot race since December following then topscorer Ceaser Okhuti’s drought after his switch from Express to KCCA. Ssentongo has in the second round missed several games due to disciplinary issues. He will have a chance to clinch the boo when the taxmen play relegated SC Victoria University who have conceded the most goals. SCVU will be fortunate to survive a massacre at Lugazi. The focus will be on Ssentongo who will be eager to create space between him and Ssekisambu who closely follows him on the goal scoring charts.

Erisa Ssekisambu

Ssekisambu (R) gets the better of Enyimba defender Ojo Oluna during a CAF engagement

Vipers’ Ssekisambu had been in the mix for the majority of the season but has failed to add to his tally of 15 since April, firing blanks in his last four league appearances before he add one more goal against URA on Tuesday during their 1-1 draw. That drought will have to be forgiven by Buikwe fans considering he has been the only outstanding player after the departure of then skipper Faruku Miya who joined Belgian side Standard League at the t beginning of the second round.

Vipers who sit second on the log with 52 points are likely to maintain same slot even if the draw against The Saints who they beat 3-0 on opening day. Moses Basena’s side is already safe from relegation but will seek to end season a high.

Elsewhere, Maroons though already relegated will be eager to go down with pride and are targeting a win against SC Villa who need to win the game to make it four out of four as the season concludes.

After 20 years in the top division, Simba will also love to sign off with victory as they play JMC Hippos at Kakindu. The army side went down despite winning 2-0 against The Saints on Tuesday thanks to Lweza’s 2-1 win over SC Victoria University but against JMC, one of the sides to let in the fewest goals, it will be a big task.

In Kavumba, Wasswa Bbosa’s Express go into their final game against Police with their target of finishing in the top fouralready achieved.

Lweza play at home in Wankulukuku to Jinja side Bul, a side formerly coached by their current Coach Joseph Mutyaba.

After sealing their 11th league title on Tuesday, KCCA target to be crowned in winning fashion with a home tie against Sadolin Paints at Nakivubo.

The Kasasiro go into the game as favourites being at home and under no pressure but must treat the visitors with care as they want to spoil the party.

KCCA awaits to lift the 11th league title this Friday after playing their last fixture with Sadolin FC at Nakivubo Stadium.

Last season, Sadolin Paints won this fixture 2-1 at Lugogo to hamper the hosts’ title charge then but KCCA beat them 3-0 on day one.

Friday May 27, 2016 Fixtures [Kicked Off at 4.00pm]

KCCA Vs Sadolin Paints – Nakivubo Live on TV

The Saints Vs Vipers – Namboole

Police Vs Express – Kavumba

Lweza Vs Bul – Wankulukuku

JMC Hippos Vs Simba – Kakindu

URA Vs SC VU – Lugazi

Maroons Vs SC Villa – Lugazi

Bright Stars Vs Soana – Mwerwere

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Two dead in DRC over anti Kabila demos

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Agencies

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May 26, 2016

President Kabila looks on during signature ceremonies. — HIRED PR FIRM: DRC President Joseph Kabila

Rallies called by dissidents to oppose Kabila’s plan to stay on as caretaker president after expiry of his second term.

At least one police officer and one protester have been killed as thousands of people take to the streets in nationwide protests against incumbent President Joseph Kabila in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The deaths occurred in the eastern city of Goma on Thursday, according to Jose Maria Aranaz, director of the UN’s Congo-based Joint Human Rights Office. Two others were injured by gunfire, he said.

In the capital Kinshasa, security forces fired tear gas and charged at several thousand stone-throwing protesters.

Police said although the Kinshasa demonstration had permission from the authorities unlike other parts of the country, the crowds had deviated from an agreed route.

“In these cases we don’t negotiate, we disperse,” national police spokesman colonel Pierre Rombaut Mwanamputu told the AFP news agency.

Al Jazeera’s Haru Mutasa, reporting from Lubumbashi, said the situation developed in a different way in that city.

“Opposition supporters said they were waiting for their leaders to come out to say ‘start marching’ [without a permit] but the leaders did not come out so people did not start marching,” she said.

“Some people said they were afraid to do so because in the past few weeks when the police clashed with the opposition supporters some of them were injured.”

Opposition groups called for the protests after the country’s Constitutional Court ruled earlier this month that Kabila, in power since his father’s assassination in 2001, could remain in a caretaker capacity beyond the expiry of his second term in December.

Feeling disillusioned

With Kabila’s powerful rival, Moise Katumbi, 51, all but pushed into exile in South Africa, some dissidents in the central African country feel disillusioned.

With many dissidents seeing in Katumbi a rightful potential leader for the country, the Citizen Front has defied the ban on protests in North Kivu and Lubumbashi.

Political unrest has hit the country for months over concerns that Kabila intends to extend his rule.

There are fears at home and abroad that Kabila will delay elections due to be held late this year.

Kabila’s supporters want the election delayed for two to four years due to logistical and financial difficulties, but the opposition accuses Kabila of planning to amend the constitution to extend his rule.

Despite opposition support for Katumbi, many rank-and-file dissidents are disappointed that he left the country on May 20, ostensibly to undergo treatment at a South African hospital.

His departure came a day after he was charged with “threatening the internal and external security of the state”.

‘Respiratory problems’

Katumbi’s followers say he was injured in clashes between police and thousands of his supporters in Lubumbashi on May 13, with a source saying he was suffering from “respiratory problems” after being tear-gassed.

Katumbi draws part of his popularity from his ownership of TP Mazembe, one of Africa’s biggest football clubs.

Less than a week into his departure to South Africa, one of his supporters criticised him for leaving them to face police “harassment” alone.

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UGANDA WORLD CUP BOMBINGS: Seven guilty of terrorism, five acquitted

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Stephen Muneza

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May 26, 2016

Isa Luyima (L) talks to fellow suspects in court. Judge Owiny-Dollo is convinced he was the mastermind in charge of the attacks

Justice Alfonse Owinyi Dollo of the Constitutional Court, sitting on Thursday has found seven people who have been on trial guilty of terrorism and 76 counts of murder and attempted murder in the twin 2010 World Cup bombings.

Twelve of the suspects were charged with terrorism, belonging to a terrorist group and 76 counts of murder (including that of the two bombers) and attempted murder.

Kenyan nationals Hussein Hassan Agade and Idris ‘Christopher’ Magondu were convicted after being found to have ‘fully participated’ in carrying out the bombings. They become second and third suspects to be convicted respectively.

Five Ugandans, six Kenyans and two Tanzanians have been charged with terrorism and murder. All of them have pleaded not guilty.

However, it should be noted that prosecution failed to prove that the suspects belonged to Al Shabaab terrorist organization but discovered that the attack was ‘put together’ from Somalia, bombs came through Kenya.

Court found first suspect Isa Ahmed Luyima guilty and the mastermind and central character.

The Judge based on Luyima’s confession statement shortly after the bombings, this was coupled with other corroborating evidence adduced in court by the two key prosecution witnesses. He became the first suspect to be convicted. Call Data Records show a Kenyan number belonging to Luyima made calls to Somalian numbers at 1710hrs on July 10, 2010.

The explosions, which also injured about 70 people, ripped through a rugby club and an Ethiopian restaurant as football fans watched the last few minutes of the 2010 World Cup final.

The Somali militant Islamist group al-Shabab said it was behind the attack that also injured about 70 people.

The court has been adjourned until tomorrow when the judge will sentence them.

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LoP Winnie Kiiza: what next for the opposition?

By

Julius Mwesigye

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May 26, 2016

At long last the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has cast off its hard outer shell and submitted names of its team in Parliament; FDC President Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu has nominated Kasese Woman Member of Parliament (MP) Winnie Kiiza as the Leader of Opposition, with youthful Kira Municipality legislator Ibrahim Semujju Nganda becoming Chief Whip, while veteran politician, Dokolo Woman MP Cecilia Atim Ogwal, was named a Parliamentary Commissioner.

THEN READ: Kasese’s Kizza emerges frontrunner for Leader of Opposition

The naming of the opposition team comes after an acrimonious debate that threatened to rip the FDC down the middle, with one group led by unrelenting party activist Ingrid Turinawe arguing that the FDC won the 2016 elections and that the party had no business naming an ‘opposition side’ to Parliament.

That however, did not deter party president Muntu from pushing on with his idea of taking the ‘change of leadership’ battle to Parliament, with his first step being the nomination of the opposition representatives in the House.

TAKES BATTLE TO PARLIAMENT: FDC President Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu

And in so doing, Gen Muntu has called upon the zeal and determination of Ms Kiiza to lead that charge in Parliament, a decision that will put to test the General’s ‘war instincts’ and discretion in light of the current political challenges facing the opposition in the country today. Politically, the opposition in Uganda is ‘besieged’ and has to look for solutions to exit this quagmire by engaging the ruling party MPs in constructive debate on a number of matters of national interest, without being overwhelmed by the cancer of the ‘tyranny of numbers’.

That notwithstanding however, the opposition representatives in the 10^th Parliament have their work cut out for them, given that the 2016 election was the most challenging poll for the opposition in Uganda since the return to multi-partyism about two decades ago.

READ: FDC should come clean on participation in parliamentary activities

For starters, the new opposition team in Parliament now under the stewardship of LoP Kiiza is going to start its work when the opposition flag bearer in the 2016 presidential elections, Dr Kizza Besigye, is incarcerated in Luzira Prison on treason charges.

Their new tenure also comes amidst repeated calls by the opposition and some civil society groups, for changes to some laws especially those related to elections. However, this might prove problematic if the ruling party members come up with a contentious proposal to amend the Constitution to remove the age limit cap of 75 years.

READ: Besigye’s FDC to name parallel ‘government’

Needless to mention however, the charge to lead, maintain and defend the opposition position in Parliament now lies squarely on the shoulders of the lady from Kasese, who has had a thriving political career that even diminished, in its vicious wave, the domineering political figure of the Kasese region, outgoing defence minister and Bukonzo West MP Dr Crispus Kiyonga.

Defence Minister and Former Bukhonzo West MP Dr Crispus Kiyonga

Indeed, Ms Kiiza is not mellow: the opposition Chief Whip in the 9^th Parliament, in 2011 she and then LoP Philip Wafula Oguttu mobilised their colleagues to walk out of the State of the Nation address, with claims that President Yoweri Museveni and his government were not doing enough to fight corruption.

‘That one showed you the consensus we have as opposition. The issue over which we walked out was corruption. The opposition, through the Public Accounts Committee came up with a report pinpointing various leaders, who are now key leadership positions in the NRM government, as corrupt. When we put it to the head of state, he said those cadres are clean and we can’t do anything about them. So, the President says he is ready to fight corruption, and yet he is glorifying the corrupt. We said we’re not going to accept to be lied to in broad daylight and just keep quiet,’ Ms Kiiza told local media then.

Also, in that position Ms Kiiza ‘whipped’ her husband Yokasi Bihande Bwambale, then MP for Bukonzo East constituency, with arguments that there was nothing wrong in husband and wife being in Parliament.

But her steady demeanour could not deter her husband from dipping his fingers in the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

HUSBAND 'WHIPPED' by new former Opposition Chief Whip and new Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP) Winnie Kiiza — HUSBAND ‘WHIPPED’ by new former Opposition Chief Whip and new Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP) Winnie Kiiza

But for now, as the public waits the naming of more opposition MPs from the Democratic Party (DP) and the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC), Hon Winnie Kiiza should start sharpening her skills acquired over her 20-year political career, in an effort to strengthen the future of parliamentary democracy in Uganda.

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VIDEO: Busia student kills own brother to join Illuminati

By

Stephen Muneza

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May 26, 2016

A man who was convinced that he would become rich by sacrificing a close relative has been apprehended by Uganda Police and ended up disappointed.

Herbert Were, a 21-year-old student of Lumino high school in Busia district, was arrested on Wednesday in Kajjansi on suspicion of beheading his brother after promising him that he would be recruited by the Illuminati. In a fit of confusion he was looking for the person who had promised to have him recruited in order to get wealth according to NTV.

Just days earlier, Were had taken his six-year old brother, Joel Ogema from his parents’ home in Busia and took him to Bugiri where he cut off his head. He has been charged with murder under file vide DEF03/20/2016 of Kabalagala police station. Were admitted the offence.

One of the messages on Were’s phone said the meeting was to be held at a club in Kansanga.

“We got information that there was somebody who was carrying a fresh human head in a bag. We immediately responded and got the person with a human head and arrested him,” Patrick Onyango the PRO of Kampala Metropolitan Police said.

“On interrogation he confessed to us (Police) that there was a businessman in Kampala whom they got connected with through social messaging app Whatsapp and his contact called Jefu that is yet to be identified had convinced Mr. Were that they will help him join the Illuminati group and would become rich. Among the requirements was that he was supposed to produce a human head of a close relative. This person killed his young brother and traveled to the city to meet his contact and it is then when we arrested him,” Mr. Onyango explained.

The suspect will first be taken for mental checkup before being produced in court and Police has already mounted a hunt for his contact Jefu to be charged together with the suspect according Benon Ayebare the Kampala Metropolitan South CIID commander

One of the messages on Were's phone said the meeting was to be held at a club in Kansanga. — One of the messages on Were’s phone said the meeting was to be held at a club in Kansanga.

Rumour has it, music promoter Jeff Kiwa who owns the nightclub De Javu mentioned in Were’s text messages is also under investigations has obviously denied being part of the child sacrifice.

Mr. Kiwa was last year accused by family members of deceased musician Emmanuel Mayanja commonly known as AK 47 and managed by the promoter’s Team No Sleep who fell and died mysteriously at the same nightclub. His death was linked to human sacrifice.

Herbert Were’s confession at Kabalagala Police Station

“I met a man calling himself Jeffu Kiwa on facebook. We continued sharing and one day I asked him how I can also become rich because our family is very poor. He told me that he can help me join illuminati cult where I could get riches and I accepted because I wanted to save our family from stinking poverty

As we continued chatting on phone and on Facebook, Jeffu one day told me to send him Shs. 40000/- such that he can help me register with Illuminati, he also asked me Shs.30,000/- as request fee such that I can request Illuminati everything I want from them and I sent him the money through his mobile money,”

I informed him that I badly needed wealth and I wanted to buy expensive cars like my favorite Audi.

They sent me a message that to get rich I should to them a head of a goat. I did not understand what they meant but they also explained to me that when they mean goat’s head they mean a head of a child who is my family member or closely related relative. They also assured me that I would soon understand their language because sometimes I would not understand what they told me”

I thought about it for two weeks until I decided to take my young brother such that my family would get money,”

I felt bad when I saw my brother pleading with me not to kill him but I had to fulfill my mission. I cut off the head and wrapped it in the polythene bag and put in my bag while the other parts I dumped it into the trench.

I slept in the forest and left early Tuesday morning for Kampala to meet Jeff who had promised me riches.”

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DRC to compensate families of slain Uganda police officers

By

Our Reporter and Agencies

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May 26, 2016

NTOROKO — Brothers clean their fishing boat by Lake Albert. Kanara, Ntoroko district. Photo credit/international alert.org

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will contribute to expenses to be met in the burial process of the four Uganda Police Force officers killed at the border point in Ntoroko district by Congolese troops.

Appearing on the Kfm Hotseat talkshow yesterday, the Senior Presidential Assistant on Political Affairs Moses Byaruhanga said the Congolese government regretted the killing of the officers and that it would assist in footing some costs related to their burial.

The dead police officers identified as Sergeant Faruk Waiswa, Corporal Biral Opara, and Police Constables Moses Ocen and Bernard Isingoma, were responding to an illegal fishing incident on Lake Albert.

Further, Mr Byaruhanga said security chiefs from the two neighbouring countries would meet under the auspices of the Ngurdoto mechanism, to resolve any outstanding issues between Uganda and the DRC.

By press time it was not possible to get a comment from the Uganda police spokesperson Fred Enanga about the compensation due to the slain officers.

Relations between Uganda and the DRC have intermittently been thorny, and in June last year Congolese officials moved the Vurra customs point barrier about 300 metres into Uganda.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed profound concern over reports of increasing political tensions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) linked to the continuing uncertainty surrounding the country’s electoral process.

In a statement from his spokesperson, the Secretary-General called for the ‘strict respect of the fundamental freedoms and rights enshrined in the Constitution’, urging all parties in the central African nation to exercise restraint and express their views peacefully, including in the context of demonstrations scheduled to take place today.

The Secretary-General called on all Congolese political stakeholders to ‘place the interests of their country above their own by engaging constructively in a meaningful political dialogue aimed at peacefully resolving their differences’, according to the statement.

The UN chief also urged the political stakeholders to extend their full cooperation to the African Union (AU) Facilitator for the National Dialogue in the DRC, Mr Edem Kodjo, and reiterated the full support of the UN for his efforts.

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Zuma in spotlight again over Nkandla

By

Agencies

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May 26, 2016

President Jacob Zuma will be back in the spotlight when Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and other ministers field questions from MPs in Parliament.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MPs are expected back in the House after the expiry of their five-day suspension, following their ejection prior to the President’s question and answer session earlier this month.

The DA will ask Police Minister Nathi Nhleko for an update on a docket opened at the Nkandla police station pertaining to eight charges of corruption against Zuma ‘for his complicity in the alleged misappropriation of public funds to upgrade his personal residence’.

Nhleko will also be asked why he did not obtain legal advice during the compilation of his report into the security upgrades at Nkandla.

Ramaphosa will be quizzed‚ among other things‚ about how SA’s message was received at the recent World Economic Forum Africa meeting that was recently held in Kigali‚ Rwanda.

He will also be asked what steps the government has taken to ensure that state resources‚ in the form of food parcels‚ will not be abused again after the public protector found this had been done by the Social Security Agency in the run-up to the national elections in 2009.

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Tanzania hosts inaugural Africa plastics exhibition

Kenya approves tougher anti-doping laws

Gbagbo wife loses sentencing appeal

Who will win the Uganda golden boot, Ssentongo or Ssekisambu?

Two dead in DRC over anti Kabila demos

UGANDA WORLD CUP BOMBINGS: Seven guilty of terrorism, five acquitted

LoP Winnie Kiiza: what next for the opposition?

VIDEO: Busia student kills own brother to join Illuminati

DRC to compensate families of slain Uganda police officers

Zuma in spotlight again over Nkandla

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