EFF motion goes on

JOHANNESBURG - An Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) motion of no confidence in National Assembly (NA) Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula will be debated on March 7. The party’s request for the house to debate Mapisa-Nqakula’s fitness to hold office was approved by her deputy Lechesa Tsenoli this week. “The deputy speaker has considered the matter and we have scheduled it for March 7,” ANC MP Mina Lesoma told the assembly’s programming committee meeting on Thursday. Lesoma is the NA’s programming whip. The EFF claims Mapisa-Nqakula is irresponsible and acted unconstitutionally on February 9 when police entered the chamber to remove EFF MPs who stormed the stage where President Cyril Ramaphosa was making his state of the nation address.

R1.3bn cocaine nabbed

DURBAN - A total of 300kg of pure cocaine, with an estimated value of R1.3bn, was found on a ship at the Durban harbour on Friday. The South African Revenue Service (SARS) said its custom officers and police carried out an early morning raid on the ship. “The pure cocaine was detected after a week-long intelligence-driven operation. The SARS marine unit, Durban Operations, police Crime Intelligence and National Detective Services boarded the vessel heading from South America to secure several containers profiled by SARS. The containers were inspected after they were offloaded in Durban harbour. The inspection revealed zinc metal products and several black bags containing 378 bricks of pure cocaine.”

Lioness shot dead

NORTH WEST - The lioness which escaped on Wednesday while being transported from Stella in the North West has been shot dead. The North West Department of Environment said the lioness was found by another farmer near Piet Plessis. Department Spokesperson Jerry Matebesi, said the lioness was posing a danger to the local community. “The farmer identified the lioness this morning and called upon the owner and because it was roaming around a residential area, the farmer then made a decision to shoot the lioness,” he said.