Another blow for Jacob Zuma
PIETERMARITZBURG - Former President Jacob Zuma will have to face prosecutor Billy Downer SC when he stands trial in the Pietermaritzburg High Court in August.
Zuma’s reconsideration application to remove Downer as the lead prosecutor in his corruption trial was dismissed on May 20. National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said the NPA welcomed the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) decision to dismiss Zuma’s application. Zuma turned to the SCA after the Pietermaritzburg High Court dismissed a special plea raised in which he contended Downer ‘has no title to prosecute’ and ‘should be removed as the prosecutor in this case.
SENEGAL - Senegal’s President Macky Sall fired his health minister on Thursday as his country mourned the death of 11 newborn babies in a hospital fire blamed on an electrical short circuit.
The tragedy late on Wednesday in the western city of Tivaouane was just the latest in a series of hospital deaths that have exposed the weaknesses of the nation’s healthcare system.
Sall earlier announced the tragedy on Twitter and declared three days of national mourning.
“I have just learnt with pain and dismay about the deaths of 11 newborn babies in the fire at the neonatal department of the public hospital,” he wrote.
“To their mothers and their families, I express my deepest sympathy.”
Outside the Mame Abdou Aziz Sy Dabakh Hospital in Tivaouane, a city with a population of 40 000, one of the distraught mothers called out for her son. ‘Where is Mohamed?’ she cried.
Baptised
Her baby son was taken to the hospital 10 days ago and was baptised on Monday, Mohamed’s 54-year-old father Alioune Diouf said.
The city’s Mayor Demba Diop said the fire had been caused by a short circuit and spread very quickly.
He denied allegations from relatives at the hospital and across social media that the babies had been left alone, saying a midwife and nurse were present on Wednesday evening.
He said outside the hospital entrance:
There was a noise and an explosion that lasted three minutes at most. Five minutes after, the fire brigade arrived. People used fire extinguishers.
The mayor said the air-conditioning had accelerated the flames and added that the two nurses fainted but were revived.
“There was no negligence,” Diop insisted.
The disaster however sparked calls for the resignation of Health Minister Abdoudaye Diouf Sarr, who was quoted in media reports also as blaming an electrical fault.